Christmas Break Hours

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash.com

LIBRARY HOURS - Christmas Break, 11/30/2020 - 1/1/2021

Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:50 p.m.

Saturday & Sunday CLOSED

December 24 -- January 1 CLOSED

Thanksgiving Break Hours

THANKSGIVING BREAK LIBRARY HOURS:

Wednesday, 11/25: 8:00 a.m. - 4:50 p.m. Thursday, 11/26 - Sunday, 11/29: CLOSED We'll be back at 8:00 a.m. on Monday the 30th!

November DVD Spotlight: German Cinema

All through the month of November, we're spotlighting the work of German filmmakers from our DVD collection.  The expressionistic work of German directors like Fritz Lang and F. W. Murnau represented the artistic peak of the silent film era, and after decades of relative stagnancy brought on by the Third Reich and the aftermath of World War II, German filmmaking saw a major resurgence with the New German Cinema movement beginning in the late 1960s, when influential directors like Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder began to leave their mark on world cinema.  We've got numerous films from both eras of German filmmaking, as well as more contemporary films from the younger generation of German directors.

Featured titles include:

Das Boot (1981)

This tense, claustrophobic epic follows the crew of a German submarine during World War II.

Downfall (2004)

Bruno Ganz gives a magnetic performance as an increasingly unhinged Adolf Hitler in this chronicle of his last days in the bunker, told from the point of view of his secretary Gertraud Junge.  This film is the source of the clip used to make all those hilarious parody videos of Hitler ranting about everything from falling for an email scam to learning that President Obama has been re-elected.

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Werner Herzog's masterful portrait of obsession follows a wealthy European who will stop at nothing to build his own personal opera house in the remote Peruvian jungle.

The Lives of Others (2006)

An Oscar-winning historical thriller about an East German police surveillance expert who is tasked with spying on a playwright and his girlfriend, only to find himself drawn into their lives and sympathetic to their plight.

Metropolis (1927)

Fritz Lang's visionary dystopian masterpiece depicts a future in which the rich live a utopian life of luxury, while the poor working class toils underground to keep the city's machinery running.

Nosferatu (1922)

This silent, expressionistic adaptation of the Dracula story features some of the most haunting imagery in all of cinema.

Pandora's Box (1929)

Jazz Age icon Louise Brooks stars in this silent classic, about an amoral young woman who inspires lust and violence in those around her.

Phoenix (2014)

In this engrossing, noir-tinged drama, a disfigured Auschwitz survivor undergoes facial reconstruction surgery, then returns to Berlin to find her gentile husband, who may or may not have betrayed her to the Nazis.

Stop by the library and check one out today!

Friday Reads: Psi Another Day

 We made it to another Friday! High five! This week, Kelly Clever is telling us about an urban fantasy YA novel by a local author who sets his stories in our very own Greensburg -- Psi Another Day by D.R. Rosensteel.

D.R. Rosensteel's books were recommended by the ladies in my self-defense class, since the author goes to the same karate school I do! I'm not typically a big YA person, but when my classmates and instructor told me that the Psi Academy novels are set in a lightly-fictionalized Greensburg, I was intrigued. 

The book's narrator is a 16-year-old girl named Rinnie, who is a normal high-schooler by day but trains in both martial and "mental arts" in a secret underground academy at night. The martial arts are pretty self-explanatory, but the "mental arts" and the cool tech that the Psi Fighters have developed to amplify their abilities are what set them apart. Thoughts become physical and mental weapons and tools when employed by these secretive fighters. 

Naturally, the Psi Fighters have sworn enemies who employ the same combination of fighting styles, and the leader of the evil Walpurgis Knights is obsessed with finding and eliminating Rinnie, in particular. Rinnie needs to figure out the secret identities of the bad guys, save the younger kids in town from evil kidnappers, figure out whom she can and can't trust, clean up the bullying problem at her school, and occasionally fight for her life. While also dealing with boy problems, naturally. 

This book is the first in the series. I actually enjoyed its sequel, Live and Let Psi, a bit more. It has even more local "Easter eggs" that made me go "I know that spot!" and the characters have had a chance to develop more fully. The Psi Who Loved Me, the third title in the series, is forthcoming. 

Who Are We?

 The library staff is working with the archivist to attempt to identify all of these women from the past. We recognize Sr. Mildred Corvi (first, l to r), Sr. Mary Janet Ryan (second), Sr. Lois Sculco (fourth), and Dr. JoAnne Boyle (fifth). We could use help identifying the remaining people and the approximate date of the photograph. Any ideas??

Adam is finally getting to cross off a book that has been on his to-read list for a long time. Today, he tells us a bit about Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey. 

Adam Pellman is reading Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey

I've only just started reading this novel, so it's too early for me to give my impressions on it. It's a book that I've been meaning to read for many years, so I'm pleased that I'm finally able to get to it. This novel was author Ken Kesey's follow-up to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a novel that I really enjoyed, and that is the basis for one of my all-time favorite films.

Sometimes a Great Notion tells the story of the Stampers, a family of loggers who live near a small lumber town along the Oregon coast, and who have become involved in a local strike. It's one of those big, sprawling novels that has earned a reputation as one of the important works of late-20th century American fiction. I hope it's worth the wait.

Friday Reads: The Divine Milieu

Today's Friday Reads feature may interest those who enjoy pondering the big questions of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Dr. Stanley tells us about The Divine Milieu by Teilhard de Chardin. 

David Stanley with The Divine Milieu by Teilhard de Chardin

I had a brief idea of what this book would be about because it was recommended to me by a friend who held the author in high esteem. I wish I would have begun reading it sooner because my friend died before we could discuss it. This makes the work more interesting to me because the copy he gave me is full of his notes and I am left to wonder what they meant to him. The Divine Milieu gives us a different lens through which to understand not only Christianity but also Catholicism. If we are to accept de Chardin’s views of the world, humanity, spirituality, and God there is an intertwining of all of them. Basically, all of creation and all that we do here is part of a trial. What we accomplish in the end does not matter, what does matter is why we do what we do. We are here to prove to God our worthiness, not what we can accomplish. It’s not a quick read but it does give you much to ponder in those late nights when you can’t fall asleep!