Tuesday, December 24, 2013

January 2014




As part of its Library Life Long Learners program, the Middlebury Public Library will host a discussion of Madame Curie: A Biography by Eve Curie on Thursday, January 23rd at 6:30 PM. The discussion will be led by Ron Clark in the Meeting Room. This will be followed by a showing of the movie, Madame Curie, in the Larkin Room on Friday, January 24th at 1:00 PM. Books are available at the library. If you would like to register for this event, please call 203-758-2634 or stop in at the Information Desk.

This program is part of our Library Life Long Learners series, brought to you courtesy of a generous grant awarded to the library by the Connecticut Community Foundation of Waterbury.


 
 
 

Thursday, August 22, 2013

September 2013



The Non-fiction Book Discussion Group will meet at the Middlebury Public Library on Tuesday, September 17th at 6:30 PM to discuss Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. Books are available at the library. For more information, please contact Donna at 203-758-2634. All are welcome! Please remember that we are temporarily located at 199 Park Road Ext. in Middlebury.


Book Description:

A recent transplant to Paris, humorist David Sedaris, bestselling author of Naked, presents a collection of his strongest works yet, including the title story about his hilarious attempt to learn French. Me Talk Pretty One Day is a number one national bestseller now in paperback.

(Image provided courtesy of www.barnesandnoble.com.)

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

August 2013

 

 

The Non-fiction Book Discussion Group will meet at the Middlebury Public Library on Tuesday, August 13th at 6:30 PM to discuss the title Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin. Please ask for the book of the month at the circulation desk.


In Fordlandia, Grandin tells the story of Henry Ford’s ill-advised attempt to transform a section of the Brazilian rainforest into a rubber plantation and company town. The follies of colonialism and the testing of the belief that the Amazon could be made to produce rubber with the precision of an auto assembly line is described in this cautionary tale.

 

The book can be requested by clicking HERE.

 

Video courtesy of IWantDemocracyNow

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

July 2013

The Non-Fiction book discussion group scheduled for Tuesday, July 9th @ 6:30 has been cancelled.


Thursday, May 16, 2013

June 2013

The Non-Fiction Book Discussion Group will meet on Tuesday, June 11th @ 6:30 pm 
to discuss  
"Annie's ghosts: a journey into a family secret" 
by Steve Luxenberg

"Throughout her life, Luxenberg’s mother, Beth, reveled in her status as an only child. Then, a few years before her death in 1999—and utterly out of the blue—she admitted to having a mentally and physically disabled younger sister named Annie, who died in 1972. Beth’s failing health precluded Luxenberg and his siblings from learning any more. After Beth’s passing, Luxenberg set out in search of answers. His dual roles as reporter and son proved both blessing and curse; the journalist dug furiously for facts, while the son wondered if long-buried secrets were best kept that way. His questions were many: What prompted Annie’s commitment, at age 21, to Eloise Hospital, southeastern Michigan’s sprawling psychiatric facility? Why was there next to no record of her early years? Most baffling of all, why did Beth, two years Annie’s senior, refuse for so long to acknowledge her sibling’s existence? Armed with superb investigative skills and relentless determination, Washington Post senior editor Luxenberg tracked down remaining family and friends and interviewed an exhaustive list of experts who might shed light on Annie’s plight. Part memoir, part mystery, part history of the mental-health movement, Annie’s Ghosts is a fascinating account of a life lived in the shadows and a family beset by despair".

The book can be requested here

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

May 2013

The non-fiction book discussion group will meet on Tuesday May 14th @ 6:30 pm to discuss 
"Crashing Through: a true story of risk, adventure and the man who dared to see" by Robert Kurson.

"Mike May spent his life crashing through. Blinded at age three, he defied expectations by breaking world records in downhill speed skiing, joining the CIA, and becoming a successful inventor, entrepreneur, and family man. He had never yearned for vision. Then, in 1999, a chance encounter brought startling news: a revolutionary stem cell transplant surgery could restore May’s vision. It would allow him to drive, to read, to see his children’s faces. But the procedure was filled with gambles, some of them deadly, others beyond May’s wildest dreams. Beautifully written and thrillingly told, Crashing Through is a journey of suspense, daring, romance, and insight into the mysteries of vision and the brain. Robert Kurson gives us a fascinating account of one man’s choice to explore what it means to see–and to truly live".

The book can be requested here.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

April 2013

The first meeting of the non-fiction book discussion group will be held on 
Tuesday April 9th @ 6:30 pm 

The book for discussion at this meeting is 
"The Zookeeper's Wife" by Diane Ackerman - a true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. 
 

"When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw—and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants—otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.
With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors". 

The book can be requested here.

Video courtesy of KPBSSanDiego