Friday, April 24, 2015

Book Club, Chapter 2

IFPL's in-house book club, known as Chapter 2, meets on the
4th Wednesday of each month. 

Our next meeting is on May 27 at 7pm in Conference Room 2,
and the group is reading:

1776 by David McCullough

America's most acclaimed historian presents the intricate story of the year of the birth of the United States of America. "1776" tells two gripping stories: how a group of squabbling, disparate colonies became the United States, and how the British Empire tried to stop them. A story with a cast of amazing characters from George III to George Washington, to soldiers and their families, this exhilarating book is one of the great pieces of historical narrative



Reviews for 1776 
Publishers Weekly: 
/* Starred Review */ Bestselling historian and two-time Pulitzer winner McCullough follows up John Adams by staying with America's founding, focusing on a year rather than an individual: a momentous 12 months in the fight for independence. How did a group of ragtag farmers defeat the world's greatest empire? As McCullough vividly shows, they did it with a great deal of suffering, determination, ingenuity—and, the author notes, luck.Although brief by McCullough's standards, this is a narrative tour de force, exhibiting all the hallmarks the author is known for: fascinating subject matter, expert research and detailed, graceful prose. Throughout, McCullough deftly captures both sides of the conflict. The British commander, Lord General Howe, perhaps not fully accepting that the rebellion could succeed, underestimated the Americans' ingenuity. In turn, the outclassed Americans used the cover of night, surprise and an abiding hunger for victory to astonishing effect. Henry Knox, for example, trekked 300 miles each way over harsh winter terrain to bring 120,000 pounds of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, enabling the Americans, in a stealthy nighttime advance, to seize Dorchester Heights, thus winning the whole city.Luck, McCullough writes, also played into the American cause—a vicious winter storm, for example, stalled a British counterattack at Boston, and twice Washington staged improbable, daring escapes when the war could have been lost. Similarly, McCullough says, the cruel northeaster in which Washington's troops famously crossed the Delaware was both "a blessing and a curse." McCullough keenly renders the harshness of the elements, the rampant disease and the constant supply shortfalls, from gunpowder to food, that affected morale on both sides—and it certainly didn't help the British that it took six weeks to relay news to and from London. Simply put, this is history writing at its best from one of its top practitioners. Agent, Morton Janklow. 1,250,000 first printing; BOMC and History Book Club main selections; Literary Guild and QPB featured alternates; 18-city author tour. (June) --Staff (Reviewed February 21, 2005) (Publishers Weekly, vol 252, issue 8, p164)


Library Journal:
/* Starred Review */ Drawn from primary-source materials collected at more than 25 libraries, archives, special collections, and historic sites in the United States and the United Kingdom, this excellent study from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner McCullough offers fresh insights and a deeper appreciation of the Continental Army's tribulations during the disastrous year of 1776. McCullough opens with Washington's unexpected victory during the Siege of Boston and then examines the ill-conceived New York campaign and the tortured retreat across New Jersey. Through the diary entries of freezing, sick, and poorly clad soldiers, he allows the reader to experience vicariously their searing hardships. Along the way, Washington's problems with short-term enlistments, a parsimonious Congress, indiscipline, constant dread of exceeding his authority, feuding officers, price gouging by local suppliers, and Loyalist betrayals are introduced. The book's numerous thumbnail sketches are fascinating and balanced. In particular, McCullough cites as Washington's most enduring qualities his abiding realization of what was at stake and dogged perseverance to achieve independence. Ending on an optimistic note, McCullough brilliantly captures the Spirit of '76 in Washington's miraculous victories at Trenton and Princeton. An altogether marvelous contribution that deserves to be read by every American; recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/05.]—John Carver Edwards, Univ. of Georgia Libs. --John Carver Edwards (Reviewed April 1, 2005) (Library Journal, vol 130, issue 6, p103)

Kirkus:
/* Starred Review */ A master storyteller's character-driven account of a storied year in the American Revolution.Against world systems, economic determinist and other external-cause schools of historical thought, McCullough (John Adams, 2001, etc.) has an old-fashioned fondness for the great- (and not-so-great-) man tradition, which may not have much explanatory power but almost always yields better-written books. McCullough opens with a courteous nod to the customary villain in the story of American independence, George III, who turns out to be a pleasant and artistically inclined fellow who relied on poor advice; his Westmoreland, for instance, was a British general named Grant who boasted that with 5,000 soldiers he "could march from one end of the American continent to the other." Other British officers agitated for peace, even as George wondered why Americans would not understand that to be a British subject was to be free by definition. Against these men stood arrayed a rebel army that was, at the least, unimpressive; McCullough observes that New Englanders, for instance, considered washing clothes to be women's work and so wore filthy clothes until they rotted, with the result that Burgoyne and company had a point in thinking the Continentals a bunch of ragamuffins. The Americans' military fortunes were none too good for much of 1776, the year of the Declaration; at the slowly unfolding battle for control over New York, George Washington was moved to despair at the sight of sometimes drunk soldiers running from the enemy and of their officers "who, instead of attending to their duty, had stood gazing like bumpkins" at the spectacle. For a man such as Washington, to be a laughingstock was the supreme insult, but the British were driven by other motives than to irritate the general—not least of them reluctance to give up a rich, fertile and beautiful land that, McCullough notes, was providing the world's highest standard of living in 1776.Thus the second most costly war in American history, whose "outcome seemed little short of a miracle." A sterling account. (Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2005)

If you have questions about Book Club, Chapter 2, please contact Jenniffer at 208-612-8460 or jhentzen@ifpl.org


Thursday, April 23, 2015

Book Nerd Suggestions



books from your Childhood
Do you remember any of these childhood favorites? 
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Bunnicula by James Howe (non-human character)
Charlotte’s Web by EB White (non-human character)
The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by EL Konigsburg
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Holes by Louis Sachar
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks (non-human character)
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (non-human character)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis (non-human character)
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Mary Poppins by PL Travers
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Jester
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (originally published in Swedish)
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
Redwall by Brian Jacques (non-human character)
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (poetry)
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Fifth Wednesdays

In our Wednesday Night Event series, we have saved the elusive 5th Wednesdays for Adult Makerspace

On April 29 at 7pm, we are pleased and excited to make something pretty great from a everyday composition notebook. These personalized journals* can be made from paper or fabric and can be embellished as much or as little as you like. It's really all about you and what you feel like making... we're giving you a chance to MAKE!


Samples are available at the 3rd Floor desk, and that's also where you can pre-register for this Adult** Makerspace program. If you have questions, please call the Library 612-8462 or email jhentzen@ifpl.org and we will do our best to answer all of your questions and concerns.

*you aren't "required" to make a journal. These books make great planners or calendars. Some of us have even decorated and spruced up our Book Nerd reading logs too...
 **Adult programming is for all IFPL Patrons who are out of high school  

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Book Nerd suggestions

Hey Book Nerds! How are you doing with the year-long challenge? Can you believe that there are a few people who have finished the challenge already? We are amazed by that too... but we are all working hard to meet our goal by December 20. And we're here to help you meet your goal with posting some of the books that fit into our challenge categories! Good luck and have fun reading these books set in a different country: 

Fiction Titles 
· Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan
· The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by C. Alan Bradley
· Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
· Little Bee by Chris Cleave
· The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
· This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
· Juliet by Anne Fortier
· In the Woods by Tana French
· The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger
· Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
· Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
· Wunderkind by Nikolai Grozni
· Chocolat by Joanne Harris
· The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
· The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
· The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
· The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
· The Constant Gardener by John LeCarre
· What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
· Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
· The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
· Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
· The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
· Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
· The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
· Dracula by Bram Stoker
· The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
· The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani
· Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
· Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
· Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

dominoes

It's Wednesday! 
That means it's Game Night!!
Tonight we're playing
D O M I N O E S !

questions? call 612-8460 or email jhentzen@ifpl.org
Dominoes is a great game that everyone can play, and is really fun for the whole family.

Tonight we will have handouts on the different games that can be played with dominoes, as well as play a few games with each other.  

Come join us this evening at 7pm in Conference Room 2.