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Library Blog

National Novel Writing Month

September 25, 2023 by mwilliams Leave a Comment

NaNoWriMo “Come Write In” events scheduled for October-December 2023

National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) is held each November around the world, providing resources and community for writers. The program began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people begin to write, determined to end the month with a first draft. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.

This fall, The Community Library will host “Come Write In” events from October to December, inviting writers of all genres, ages, and experiences to learn preparation and editing techniques, get support, and have dedicated writing time surrounded by other writers.

Here’s the full schedule:

OCTOBER – NaNoPrepMo: Learn novel preparation techniques through directed activities and lectures from published author and novel planner Jonathan E. Hernandez.

  • Wednesday, October 18, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
  • Saturday, October 28, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

NOVEMBER – NaNoWriMo: Get support, ideas, and time to accomplish your goals at your leisure. Come for an hour or the whole time. Bring snacks, water, and your creativity!

  • Wednesday, November 1, 4:00-8:00 p.m.
  • Saturday, November 11, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
  • Saturday, November 18, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, November 21, 4:00-8:00 p.m.
  • Thursday, November 30, 4:00-8:00 p.m.

DECEMBER – NaNoEdMo: Learn editing techniques via directed activities and lecture. Celebrate the end of NaNoWriMo!

  • Saturday, December 16, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
  • Wednesday, December 20, 5:00-7:00 p.m.

All events will meet in the library’s Idaho Room, and a Zoom link is available for writers to join each session virtually.

Events be moderated by NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison, AJ Super, who is a local author with three science fiction books published by a small traditional press. She is also a Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Association (SFWA) member.

NaNoWriMo is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that believes in the transformational power of creativity. They provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people use their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page. Learn more about the writing community and get free resources for your writing from NaNoWriMo.org.

Filed Under: Fresh from the Stacks

Book Review: Unbroken 

September 19, 2023 by kmerwin Leave a Comment

Gold Mine Processing Associate, Brenda Cook, recommends Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand. 

The story unfolds and is derived from the journals authored by Louis Zamperini during his life as a legendary four-mile runner at the Berlin Olympics during World War II.  

In 1941, Zamperini enlisted as a lieutenant in the Army Air Force and became a bombardier. His aircraft is shot down over the Atlantic, during which he and a couple fellow troopers survive after spending 47 days adrift at sea. Sharks, weather, starvation, injuries, and madness were tough enough to fend off, but unbeknownst to them it was only the beginning of their nightmare. 

Zamperine’s strength, endurance, faith, and mental and physical control helped him survive. 

After finally landing on shore, Zamperini and the other survivors are captured by the Japanese and placed in a war camp. Zamperini journalizes the brutality and inhumane treatment he and many at the camp endured during the two-year tenure. He especially is treated worse than most because his captors, one especially known as “the Bird” who knew of his Olympian abilities and wanted to mock and break him mentally and physically. 

Though disturbing to hear of what some prisoners-of-war had to endure, the story’s importance needs to be conveyed to give an understanding of their sacrifices and also why so many suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Zamperine’s strength, endurance, faith, and mental and physical control helped him survive. 

This was a great book and I appreciate our service people all the more because of it. 

Find it in print, ebook, eaudiobook, and CD here.

Filed Under: Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More

The “Grito” (Shout) Heard Around the World

September 14, 2023 by kmerwin Leave a Comment

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month

By Janet Ross-Heiner, Librarian and English Language Learning Instructor

Janet Ross-Heiner and Eduardo Chavez,
film director and social justice advocate,
at The Community Library, 2023

In Mexican-American communities, National Hispanic Heritage Month begins with the shout that marks the start of the Mexican Revolution—the grito (shout) heard around the world. In the flag, colors of crimson red and earthy green flank the image of the eagle with the serpent in its clutches. Folks celebrate Mexican Independence Day each year on September 16, donning these national colors, and holding elote (corn) in one hand and agua fresca (cool water) in the other.

This same scene unfolds throughout the United States with different foods and different colors depending on the specific Hispanic community. Each celebration is undeniably unique.

As we celebrate and honor the heritage of the people throughout Hispanic Heritage Month, we must also do the important work of understanding how and why the distinct histories of a multinational, multicultural, and multilingual group of communities were consolidated into Hispanic heritage in the first place.

For example, the term Hispanic was a term that was initiated for census brochures. Then Latino/a became a focus because it is more inclusive with Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Now LatinX furthers the language to include youth and LGBTIQA+.

As someone who falls under the definition of Hispanic, I know that personal identities and labels can shift. Some may identify as Hispanic, while others will identify as LatinX or Mexican American.

Understanding the history behind these shifting identifications—and particularly the history of the word Hispanic—can help us better understand the challenges this term has created.

Viva México, Central America, and Caribé!

Find recommended reading on Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15, 2023).

Filed Under: Fresh from the Stacks

Book Review: Rising Above Shepherdsville

September 12, 2023 by kmerwin Leave a Comment

Children’s Librarian Judy Zimmer recommends Rising Above Shepherdsville by Ann Schoenbohm.

This novel drew me in with the opening paragraph:

“There I was, Mama, standing in the tall grass right next to the Redeemer Baptist Church, the day after the Fourth of July, when I spied what I would have sworn on a heap of Bibles was an angel rising straight up to heaven. Enormous white wings spread and soared above me in a sunset so pink and gold, it promised miracles-even here in Shepherdsville, Ohio- a place badly in need of divine intervention.”

In 1977, twelve-year-old Dulcie Dixon is dumped at her aunt’s house by her stepfather after the untimely death of her Mama.

She arrives in Ohio with no voice, a spelling bee trophy, and her mother’s ashes.

This is a novel that has stuck with me, one that I would even read again. The last person I recommended it to remarked that it had brought her to tears.

I recommend it for upper middle school kids and adults alike.

Find it in Juvenile Fiction here.

Filed Under: Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More

Book Review: The Blue Zones Kitchen

August 30, 2023 by kmerwin Leave a Comment

Children’s Librarian, Ellen O’Dell, recommends The Blue Zones Kitchen by Dan Buettner.

The recipes in The Blue Zones Kitchen cookbook are the perfect remedy for those with wanderlust!

Be transported to island communities like Ikaria, Greece, or the tropical beaches of the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. This cookbook explores the typical recipes in the world’s “Blue Zones,” or places with an extraordinarily long life expectancy.

The author, Dan Buettner, spends quality time with families in each region, observing the people and their habits while carefully documenting the food that they eat.

Buettner says of Blue Zones, “These people don’t live longer because of supplements, pills, or hocus-pocus antiaging serums. They do so because their surroundings nudge them into the right behaviors.” In addition to eating whole foods and simple meals, Buettner notices that people often cook and enjoy their meals together.

Buettner credits the long life spans [in Blue Zones] to the diet and the strong sense of community.  

When cooking at home, I prioritize healthy meals that come together efficiently. A few recipes require a long prep time, but many take less than an hour. My new favorite dishes include Summer Pasta from Sardinia, Italy, and the Gallo Pinto from Costa Rica. I can prepare both of these dishes quickly on a weeknight, plus they make plenty of leftovers. Once the colder weather arrives, I look forward to revisiting this cookbook and making some Minestrone! These meals emphasize using whole foods, fresh produce, and herbs.

Many of these recipes are vegetarian – or even vegan! – and require minimal ingredients, making them simple and budget-friendly. While some cookbooks may call for spices or other items not commonly used in my kitchen, I already had most of the items for these recipes. If you check out The Blue Zones Kitchen, you can look forward to beautiful photography, interesting stories, and inspiration to try healthy new recipes.

Find The Blue Zones Kitchen in print here.

Filed Under: Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More

Book Review: Living Untethered

August 28, 2023 by kmerwin Leave a Comment

Communications Manager, Kyla Merwin, recommends Living Untethered by Michael A. Singer. 

One of the great gifts bestowed on us as sentient beings – which we learn to access at some point (hopefully) in our lives – is personal agency:

Will. Free will. Choice.

We cannot control most of what happens around us—hot tempers and cold people, the length of the line in the grocery store or the width of the feet we were born with, the too-slow traffic or too-quickly changing technology, the time the sun sets or the rising of the tides, the opinions of your mother-in-law and other forces of nature.

In his two best-selling books, The Untethered Soul and Living Untethered, Michael A. Singer reminds us of this aggravating powerlessness with stark, unrelenting clarity. Thankfully, he also maps for us a path to exercise personal agency – awareness, intention, and choice – over matters that we can control: Our own thoughts, feelings, and actions.

He gives us powerful tools to “relax and release” our samskaras—the wounds, the anger, the hurt, the fears that, left to their own devices, wreak havoc on our lives.

These samskaras, says Singer, often hold sway over our better judgement, undermining our best intentions, our relationships, our careers, our dreams. Most importantly, these stored narratives from our past will inevitably distort our peace of mind, our stillness of heart, and our ability to move through life with ease and grace.

By dint of being born human on this “spinning ball of dirt in the middle of the vast space of the universe,” as Singer puts it, you have the ability, through choice, to live a life full of joy, happiness, and deep meaning.

I’ll be the first to admit I have pesky samskaras inserting themselves into my daily life. So if you see me walking around the streets of my own little universe – typically between the Library, the Gold Mine Stores, the Wood River Museum, the grocery store, and home – with AirPods in my ears and my head in the clouds, I might be pondering the words of the great Taoist philosopher, Lao Tzu:

Watch your thoughts, they become your words;
Watch your words, they become your actions;
Watch your actions, they become your habits;
Watch your habits, they become your character;
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

Or I just may just be thinking…

…relax and release.


Find Living Untethered in Overdrive eaudiobook here. (Print copies coming soon!)

Living Untethered is the December 6, 2023 selection for the Community Library Book Club. Learn more/sign up here. Note: You do not have to read Singer’s first book, The Untethered Soul, in order to get the full benefit of the tools in Living Untethered.

Filed Under: Library Book Club Reviews

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