Image by Matt Sawyers from Pixabay
Thursday, May 23rd: 8:00 a.m. - Noon
Friday, May 24th-Sunday, May 26th: CLOSED
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Monday, May 13, 2019
Summer library hours
REGULAR LIBRARY HOURS—MAY 12 – AUGUST 25, 2019
Monday—Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:50 p.m.
Saturday CLOSED
Sunday CLOSED
EXCEPTION DATES
May 23 Thursday 8:00 a.m. - Noon
May 24 Friday CLOSED
May 27 Monday CLOSED
July 4 Thursday CLOSED
July 5 Friday CLOSED
Aug. 19 Monday CLOSED
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Library Commencement Weekend
The library will be CLOSED on May 11 & 12 for Commencement activities. Congratulations, graduates!
Saturday, May 4, 2019
Finals Hours
FINALS WEEK LIBRARY HOURS:
May 6-9 8:00 a.m.-9:50 p.m.
May 10 8:00 a.m. -4:50 p.m.
May 11-12 CLOSED
Friday, May 3, 2019
Friday Reads: Excellent Sheep
Dr. Stanley has been reading up on "elite" higher education in Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life by William Deresiewicz.
An interesting overview of the evolution of elite colleges and universities and the effect it has had on their student populations. If you’re interested in finding out what made some universities elite you can read about their metamorphoses here. A well-written narrative of how schools began as places for students to experiment, reflect, and gain a broad view of the world but, ultimately, became businesses to aid students in narrow paths for financial success. The elite student has been molded from a young age to realize that affluence has its advantages and that failure is not an option. The elite schools have realized this and work to ensure that they remain firm in their beliefs. This is evidenced beginning with the admissions process and progressing through to graduation. Should students go through the higher education process with a myopic view of being trained for a specific, high-paying career or should they be given a chance to experience life outside of their comfort-zones and realize that personal fulfillment is sometimes more than a hefty paycheck? Some interesting hypotheses in this book that shed light on the machinations behind the “ivy-covered walls.”
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| David Stanley is reading Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life by William Deresiewicz |
An interesting overview of the evolution of elite colleges and universities and the effect it has had on their student populations. If you’re interested in finding out what made some universities elite you can read about their metamorphoses here. A well-written narrative of how schools began as places for students to experiment, reflect, and gain a broad view of the world but, ultimately, became businesses to aid students in narrow paths for financial success. The elite student has been molded from a young age to realize that affluence has its advantages and that failure is not an option. The elite schools have realized this and work to ensure that they remain firm in their beliefs. This is evidenced beginning with the admissions process and progressing through to graduation. Should students go through the higher education process with a myopic view of being trained for a specific, high-paying career or should they be given a chance to experience life outside of their comfort-zones and realize that personal fulfillment is sometimes more than a hefty paycheck? Some interesting hypotheses in this book that shed light on the machinations behind the “ivy-covered walls.”
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Summer Reading Theme: Beach Reads
These “beach reads” may not all be the fluffy fare that is typically associated with shady umbrellas and fruity drinks, but they all have something to do with a beach.
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to the house of Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family with the Great Depression underway. Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that had always belonged to men. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. She is the sole provider for her mother, a farm girl who had a brief and glamorous career with the Ziegfeld Follies, and her lovely, severely disabled sister. At a nightclub, she chances to meet Dexter Styles again, and she begins to understand the complexity of her father's life, the reasons he might have vanished. (Publisher’s summary)
The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico The tale of a lonely man, a little girl and a wild goose driven by a storm to the coast of England. The story tells how the man came to the aid of his country in its moment of desperate need and how the bird became a symbol of hope and safety to the lost armies on the beach at Dunkirk. (Publisher’s summary)
“F” is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton Seventeen years after the murder of Jean Timberlake at Floral Beach, her self-confessed killer suddenly reappears, and the case reopens. For Royce Fowler, old and sick with not much time left, his son's reappearance was the chance to heal an old wound. For Kinsey Millhone, the case was a long shot, but she agreed to take it on. She couldn't know then it would lead her to probe the passions buried just below the surface of family relations, where old wounds fester and the most cherished emotions become warped until they fuse into deadly, soul-destroying time bombs. (Adapted publisher’s summary)
The Mind Game by Hector MacDonald When Ben Ashurst agrees to participate in a study of the biology of human emotions for his charismatic Oxford tutor, he can't begin to imagine what lies ahead. With a luxury resort on a beach in Kenya as the site of the experiment and his beautiful new girlfriend along for company, it seems the perfect way to spend the Christmas holidays. But paradise starts to lose its luster when, without warning, Ben finds the experiment veering from abstract scientific theory into terrifyingly real danger. (Publisher’s summary)
Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall Avey Johnson--a black, middle-aged, middle-class widow given to hats, gloves, and pearls--has long since put behind her the Harlem of her childhood. Then on a cruise to the Caribbean with two friends, inspired by a troubling dream, she senses her life beginning to unravel--and in a panic packs her bag in the middle of the night and abandons her friends at the next port of call. The unexpected and beautiful adventure that follows provides Avey with the links to the culture and history she has so long disavowed. (Publisher’s summary)
Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener This collection of tales is set against the background of the South Pacific, the endless ocean, the coral specks called islands, the coconut palms, the reefs, the jungle and the full moon rising against the jungle. The tales are told by a young naval officer whose duties on an Admiral's staff take him up and down the islands. (Publisher’s summary)
Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates It all began when Kelly Kelleher was introduced to The Senator, a man she had wanted to meet since selecting him as the topic of her senior honors thesis. Charmed and infatuated, Kelly eagerly accepts his invitation to leave the island party where they've met and ride back to Boothbay Harbor together on the late night ferry. Those who remember Chappaquiddick can predict Kelly's ultimate fate, but certainly not the horrors she must have suffered strapped to the seat of a car that would become an aqueous death chamber. Immense courage shines through the tangled streams of her thoughts, memories, and hallucinations. As witnesses to her plight, we can only keep vigil as she drifts in and out of consciousness, waiting for the reprieve that surely must be hers. Oates brilliantly redefines the meanings of guilt and innocence, vengeance and reward in this thought-provoking allegory of our life and times. (Library Journal review)
Beach Road by James Patterson Tom Dunleavy has a one-man law firm in America's wealthiest resort town, legendary East Hampton. But his job barely keeps him afloat. His clients make a living serving the rich, and the billionaires and celebrities swarming the beaches already have lawyers on their payroll. Then a friend of Tom's is arrested for a triple murder near a movie star's mansion. Tom knows in his gut that Dante Halleyville is innocent, and Dante asks Tom to represent him in what could be the trial of the century. Tom recruits Manhattan superlawyer Kate Costello to help. She's a tough hire, because she's his ex-girlfriend, but she agrees. In their search to find who really executed three locals, Tom orchestrates a series of revelations to expose the killer. And what emerges is staggering--and will shock everyone. (Publisher’s summary)
McNally’s Secret by Lawrence Sanders Something is tarnished on the Gold Coast of Florida--behind Palm Beach's highfalutin' facade bubbles a lowdown brew of blackmail, fraud, adultery, and murder. Playboy/sleuth Archy McNally specializes in discreet cases for his father's old-line law firm. When he is called in to retrieve some property stolen from a wealthy matron's mansion, Archy's genius is put on the line. (Publisher’s summary)
Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks Divorced and disillusioned about relationships, Theresa Osborne is jogging when she finds a bottle on the beach. Inside is a letter of love and longing to "Catherine," signed simply "Garrett." Challenged by the mystery and pulled by emotions she doesn't fully understand, Theresa begins a search for this man that will change her life. (Publisher’s summary)
Brazil by John Updike Allusions to Tristan and Isolde dot Updike's fiction, poetry, and even nonfiction, so it is not surprising to find him reimagining their story as a novel. Surprisingly, he places them in the Brazil of the last three decades. His Tristan is a black beach boy, his Isolde the affluent daughter of a career diplomat; their mutual destiny begins when they meet on a Rio beach. Updike's Brazil, described with his customary scrupulous detail, is alien enough to provide a legendary landscape where the lovers must confront tribulations, endure separations and enslavement, survive deadly adventures, and rely on their love literally as their only sustenance. The rich prose is Updike's characteristic own, but he achieves a tone suggesting that of both the medieval troubadours and the modern Latin American fabulists. (Library Journal review)
Orchid Beach by Stuart Woods Forced into early retirement at thirty-seven, smart, attractive, and fiercely independent Major Holly Barker trades in her bars as a military cop for the badge of deputy chief of police in Orchid Beach, Florida. But below the sunny surface of this sleepy, well-to-do island town lies an evil that escalates into the cold-blooded murder of one of Holly's new colleagues. An outsider, Holly has little to go on for answers and no one to help her--except Daisy, a Doberman of exceptional intelligence and loyalty that becomes her companion and protector. The closer she gets to the truth, the more Holly knows that it'll take one smart dog with guts to sniff out this killer--before he can catch her first. (Publisher’s summary)
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to the house of Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family with the Great Depression underway. Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that had always belonged to men. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. She is the sole provider for her mother, a farm girl who had a brief and glamorous career with the Ziegfeld Follies, and her lovely, severely disabled sister. At a nightclub, she chances to meet Dexter Styles again, and she begins to understand the complexity of her father's life, the reasons he might have vanished. (Publisher’s summary)
The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico The tale of a lonely man, a little girl and a wild goose driven by a storm to the coast of England. The story tells how the man came to the aid of his country in its moment of desperate need and how the bird became a symbol of hope and safety to the lost armies on the beach at Dunkirk. (Publisher’s summary)
“F” is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton Seventeen years after the murder of Jean Timberlake at Floral Beach, her self-confessed killer suddenly reappears, and the case reopens. For Royce Fowler, old and sick with not much time left, his son's reappearance was the chance to heal an old wound. For Kinsey Millhone, the case was a long shot, but she agreed to take it on. She couldn't know then it would lead her to probe the passions buried just below the surface of family relations, where old wounds fester and the most cherished emotions become warped until they fuse into deadly, soul-destroying time bombs. (Adapted publisher’s summary)
The Mind Game by Hector MacDonald When Ben Ashurst agrees to participate in a study of the biology of human emotions for his charismatic Oxford tutor, he can't begin to imagine what lies ahead. With a luxury resort on a beach in Kenya as the site of the experiment and his beautiful new girlfriend along for company, it seems the perfect way to spend the Christmas holidays. But paradise starts to lose its luster when, without warning, Ben finds the experiment veering from abstract scientific theory into terrifyingly real danger. (Publisher’s summary)
Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall Avey Johnson--a black, middle-aged, middle-class widow given to hats, gloves, and pearls--has long since put behind her the Harlem of her childhood. Then on a cruise to the Caribbean with two friends, inspired by a troubling dream, she senses her life beginning to unravel--and in a panic packs her bag in the middle of the night and abandons her friends at the next port of call. The unexpected and beautiful adventure that follows provides Avey with the links to the culture and history she has so long disavowed. (Publisher’s summary)
Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener This collection of tales is set against the background of the South Pacific, the endless ocean, the coral specks called islands, the coconut palms, the reefs, the jungle and the full moon rising against the jungle. The tales are told by a young naval officer whose duties on an Admiral's staff take him up and down the islands. (Publisher’s summary)
Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates It all began when Kelly Kelleher was introduced to The Senator, a man she had wanted to meet since selecting him as the topic of her senior honors thesis. Charmed and infatuated, Kelly eagerly accepts his invitation to leave the island party where they've met and ride back to Boothbay Harbor together on the late night ferry. Those who remember Chappaquiddick can predict Kelly's ultimate fate, but certainly not the horrors she must have suffered strapped to the seat of a car that would become an aqueous death chamber. Immense courage shines through the tangled streams of her thoughts, memories, and hallucinations. As witnesses to her plight, we can only keep vigil as she drifts in and out of consciousness, waiting for the reprieve that surely must be hers. Oates brilliantly redefines the meanings of guilt and innocence, vengeance and reward in this thought-provoking allegory of our life and times. (Library Journal review)
Beach Road by James Patterson Tom Dunleavy has a one-man law firm in America's wealthiest resort town, legendary East Hampton. But his job barely keeps him afloat. His clients make a living serving the rich, and the billionaires and celebrities swarming the beaches already have lawyers on their payroll. Then a friend of Tom's is arrested for a triple murder near a movie star's mansion. Tom knows in his gut that Dante Halleyville is innocent, and Dante asks Tom to represent him in what could be the trial of the century. Tom recruits Manhattan superlawyer Kate Costello to help. She's a tough hire, because she's his ex-girlfriend, but she agrees. In their search to find who really executed three locals, Tom orchestrates a series of revelations to expose the killer. And what emerges is staggering--and will shock everyone. (Publisher’s summary)
McNally’s Secret by Lawrence Sanders Something is tarnished on the Gold Coast of Florida--behind Palm Beach's highfalutin' facade bubbles a lowdown brew of blackmail, fraud, adultery, and murder. Playboy/sleuth Archy McNally specializes in discreet cases for his father's old-line law firm. When he is called in to retrieve some property stolen from a wealthy matron's mansion, Archy's genius is put on the line. (Publisher’s summary)
Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks Divorced and disillusioned about relationships, Theresa Osborne is jogging when she finds a bottle on the beach. Inside is a letter of love and longing to "Catherine," signed simply "Garrett." Challenged by the mystery and pulled by emotions she doesn't fully understand, Theresa begins a search for this man that will change her life. (Publisher’s summary)
Brazil by John Updike Allusions to Tristan and Isolde dot Updike's fiction, poetry, and even nonfiction, so it is not surprising to find him reimagining their story as a novel. Surprisingly, he places them in the Brazil of the last three decades. His Tristan is a black beach boy, his Isolde the affluent daughter of a career diplomat; their mutual destiny begins when they meet on a Rio beach. Updike's Brazil, described with his customary scrupulous detail, is alien enough to provide a legendary landscape where the lovers must confront tribulations, endure separations and enslavement, survive deadly adventures, and rely on their love literally as their only sustenance. The rich prose is Updike's characteristic own, but he achieves a tone suggesting that of both the medieval troubadours and the modern Latin American fabulists. (Library Journal review)
Orchid Beach by Stuart Woods Forced into early retirement at thirty-seven, smart, attractive, and fiercely independent Major Holly Barker trades in her bars as a military cop for the badge of deputy chief of police in Orchid Beach, Florida. But below the sunny surface of this sleepy, well-to-do island town lies an evil that escalates into the cold-blooded murder of one of Holly's new colleagues. An outsider, Holly has little to go on for answers and no one to help her--except Daisy, a Doberman of exceptional intelligence and loyalty that becomes her companion and protector. The closer she gets to the truth, the more Holly knows that it'll take one smart dog with guts to sniff out this killer--before he can catch her first. (Publisher’s summary)
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