Rochester Reads

If you missed the Rochester Reads Programme, The Worst Hard Time, there is still a chance to read the book, especially with your book group. The Library has extra copies of the book available, and the Book Group in a Bag is also available. The latter is booked out several months already this year, so reserve yours soon. Please call 328-2305 or stop by the Fiction Movies and Music desk to reserve it for your book group.
They are in high demand, so reserve soon.

Rochester Reads is a community wide project presented by the following partners:
Rochester Public Library
Post Bulletin Company
History Center of Olmsted County
Adult adn Family Literacy Program
Barnes and Noble Booksellers
Diversity Council
Rochester Public Schools
Rochester Community and Technical College

Author Visits - Rochester Public Library

 A very proud parent holding her daughters' first published book!
This will be an upcoming Author Visit in the Library in June.
The book is called the Girl in the Garden, by Kamala Nair, who grew up in Rochester!
Our book group is anxiously awaiting publications and their own copies!

Poetry Event

Southeastern Minnesota Poets is hosting the League of Minnesota Poets annual spring meeting at Assisi Heights in Rochester, MN. The event takes place on April 16th, with registration check-in beginning at 9 AM and runs all day until 4 PM. A registration fee of $35 ($15 for students) includes guest speaker Todd Boss, author of Yellowrocket, as well as poetry critique, open mic poetry reading, book fair and more. The Friends of the Rochester Public Library will be on hand to sell great books at bargain prices.

The event includes lunch with registration prior to April 1st. For details and a registration form, visit the League of Minnesota Poets website at mnpoets.com or email poets.semn@gmail.com for more information.

2011 Friends' Booksales

2011 Dates for the Friends of the Library

Book Sales

RPL Auditorium

Friends' members get into the first day of each sale 1/2 hour earlier than the public. Become a member today and get in early. Friends' members also get 20% off in the Friends' Bookstore.

February

Winterfest     

Monday, February 7   

Friends 10:30 a.m.

Public  11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

                        

Tuesday, February 8      

10:00 a.m. -  3:00 p.m.

This sale raised nearly $2,000. These funds will go towards our goal of purchasing the much needed self-check machines for the library.

                                                          

April

Saturday,  April 2       

Friends 1:30 p.m.

Public   2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, April  3        

1:30 p.m.  -  4:00 p.m.

June

Rochesterfest  

Wednesday, June 22          

Friends  9:00 a.m.

Public     9:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

                      

Thursday,  June 23   

9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

                      

October

Fall Sale  

Saturday October 15     

Friends 9:00 a.m.

Public 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

                      

Sunday October 16         

1:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

December

Holiday Gift Book and Bake Sale

Sunday, Dec 4  

Friends 1:00

Public    1:30 – 4:00 p.m.

The Rochester Public Library Foundation held its 10th Annual Wit, Wisdom and Wine gala fundraising event on Saturday, January 15, 2011. This unique event, which raised about $25,000 had a record number of 250 attendees. Throughout the evening, each attendee had a chance to listen to their choice of two speakers, socialize over wine and light refreshments, and outwit/outbid each other in the silent auction.
The Friends donated a number of silent auction items including many of the books that graced the other silent auction items. Friends also contributed to the success of the evening.
This year’s speakers had topics for everyone ranging from Economics, Politics, Pirates, Art, Music, and of course, Wine. The silent auction offered great items that were all donated by local library enthusiasts. There were piles of books, lots of wine, art prints, airplane rides, tickets to Minnesota Wild, and even a wing-backed chair up for bid. Gift certificates for CounterPoint, Great Harvest, zPizza, and even a psychic reading were also on the auction.
The raffle winner of a piece of jewelry donated by Hight & Randall, Ltd. was Bruce Snyder. His wife, Vicki, chose the ring as her prize. Congratulations to both of you!
If you missed it this year, mark your calendar now for the 11th Annual Wit, Wisdom and Wine event which will be held on Saturday, January 14, 2012.
This event wouldn’t be as successful as it is without the volunteers who help the night of the event, the donors who supply us with silent auction and raffle items, the attendees who come to the event and those who bid on the silent auction items and purchase raffle tickets, and of course our sponsors:
BridgeStreet World Wide and Think Mutual Bank were the main co-sponsors of the event.
Other sponsors include: Andy’s Liquor, David & Lois Marris from Keller Williams Realty, Associated Bank, Davies Printing, DoubleTree Hotel, Daubes’ Cakes and Bakery, Hight & Randall, LTD, Barbara and Phil Henoch, Lasker Jewelers, Nigon Woodworks, Inc., US Bank, Windsor Financial, Paustis Wine Company, Finca Flichman Winery, and Anakena Chile Winery.

Friends' Board Officers

2011 Friends' Board

President
Elizabeth Ritman

Vice-President
Barbara Eakins

Secretary
Carol Stucki

Treasurer
David Anderson
 

Bookstore Manager
Mary Barrett

Board Members

Kay Aune
Denny Anderson
Barbara Eakins
Shirley Edmonson
Theresa Friedhoff
Majel Hall
Phyllis Hambright
Carol Mikesh
Helen McIver
Elaine Schmidt
Sylvie Nickel
Julie Taylor
Joyce Wenz
Bruce Witts

Library Staff
John Hunziker, Communications Mgr
Gail Harris, Volunteer Coord.
Marilyn Campbell, Volunteer Coord.
Ginny Erbe, Communications

Book Group in a Bag 2011

Just to let you know that the Library has updated (2/3/2011) the Book Group in a Bag title Selection and have some wonderful books for book groups - the selection of titles by author is listed below. There are generally 10 books in a book bag (although more may be available if you have a larger book group). The Friends' sorting volunteers try to keep extra copies of these books as they are donated. This is a great way to read a classic and enjoy a discussion. Try non-fiction! Experience another culture or another time. Set a date to meet your friends and enjoy the reading experience!
Bryson's Shakespeare is  excellent. I highly recommend ALL of Ariana Franklin! We can learn a great deal from Gawande (I never miss his articles in the New Yorker). Your next fast passed read should be Kathleen Kent's Heretic's Daughter (and then the sequel/prequel!). I am still talking about The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, that I read for the first time last year. Cannot believe I missed that, or it's sequel a decade ago. Great new author for me. Don't miss her other books. If you need a lovely gentle read, that is also thought provoking and well written, you will enjoy Helen Simonson's Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. It is charming. When baseball season rolls around, don't forget Shoeless Joe (Kinsella) it is a classic.

Book Group Bag Titles


Sherman Alexie – The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian
Katherine Applegate – Home of the brave
Margaret Atwood – The handmaid’s tale
Muriel Barbery – The elegance of the hedgehog
Elizabeth Berg – We are all welcome here
Clara Bingham – Class action
R.D. Blackmore – Lorna Doone
Jenna Blum – Those who save us
Chris Bohjalian – Before you know kindness
T. Coraghessan Boyle – The tortilla curtain
Kevin Brockmeier – The brief history of the dead
Geraldine Brooks – Year of wonders
Bill Bryson – Shakespeare: the world as stage
Caleb Carr – The alienist
Willa Cather – O Pioneers!
Catherine Clinton – Mrs. Lincoln: a life
Bryce Courtenay – The power of one
Andre Dubus III – The house of sand and fog
Daphne Du Maurier – Rebecca
Firoozeh Dumas – Funny in Farsi
Nancy Farmer – The house of the scorpion
Drew Gilpin Faust – This republic of suffering: death and the American Civil War
Ariana Franklin – City of Shadows
Jonathan Franzen – The corrections
Gregory A. Freeman – Lay this body down: the 1921 murders of eleven plantation slaves
Atul Gawande – Better: a surgeon’s notes
Stella Gibbons – Cold Comfort Farm
Lorraine Hansberry – A raisin in the sun
Nicole Helget – The summer of ordinary ways
Ernest Hemingway – For whom the bell tolls
Sheri Holman – The dress lodger
Tony Horwitz – Confederates in the attic
Victor Hugo – The hunchback of Notre Dame
Kazuo Ishiguro – Never let me go
Joseph Kanon – The good German
Kathleen Kent – The heretic’s daughter
Haven Kimmel – A girl named Zippy
Thomas King – Green grass, running water
W.P. Kinsella – Shoeless Joe
Jonathan Kozol – Letters to a young teacher
Jhumpa Lahiri – The namesake
John Le Carre – The constant gardener
James Levine – The blue notebook
Mary Logue – Blood country
Bette Lord – Spring moon
Gregory Maguire – Wicked
James McBride – The color of water
Ian McEwan – Saturday
Alison McGhee – Shadow baby
Wes Moore – The other Wes Moore
Walter Dean Myers – Riot
Kent Nerburn – Neither wolf nor dog
Barack Obama – Dreams from my father
Sara Paretsky – Bleeding Kansas
Gordon Parks – The learning tree
Chaim Potok – The chosen
Susan Power – The grass dancer
Peter Razor – While the locust slept
O.E. Rölvaag – Giants in the earth
Tatiana de Rosnay – Sarah’s Key
Edmund Rostand – Cyrano de Bergerac
Mary Doria Russell – The sparrow
Lisa See – Shanghai girls
William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet
Fan Shen – Gang of one: memoirs of a Red Guard
Jean Shepherd – In God we trust, all others pay cash
Helen Simonson – Major Pettigrew’s last stand
Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle Tom’s cabin
Faith Sullivan – The Cape Ann
Kressmann Taylor – Address unknown
William Makepeace Thackeray – Vanity fair
P.J. Tracy – Monkeewrench
Sarah Vowell – Assassination vacation
Jeanette Walls – Half broke horses
Eric Weiner – The geography of bliss
Elie Wiesel – Night
Thornton Wilder – Our town: a play in three acts
Kao Kalia Yang – The latehomecomer: a Hmong family memoir
Jeffrey Zaslow – The girls from Ames: a story of women and a forty year friendship

Learn.Do.Earn Posters

I always enjoy looking at the art from various schools that gets displayed in the skyway from the library to the rest of downtown, near the skyway entrance to Oakview Plaza. A section of the display is now showing the Learn.Do.Earn Poster Contest for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Students at Rochester Public Schools.
I snapped some photos of only a few of my favorites to share with you. It's really worth a trip to check out all of them.

Library and Bookstore Holiday closings

Closed
Monday, February 21, 2011 in observance of Presidents' Day.

Winterfest Sale

The Winterfest booksale was a great success, raising nearly $2,000. These funds will go towards our goal of buying two new self-checks for the library.

 We had over 350 very happy customers attending this event, fulfilling their winter read needs!

Save the Date!

Spring Clean Up Book Sale

• Gift quality books - Unusual and Special
• Book sale

Saturday, April 2

2:00pm - 5:00pm - Auditorium

Sunday, April 3
           1:30pm - 4:00pm - Auditorium

Friends' Bookstore - February Sales and Second Saturday Sale

Second Saturday Sale
Pat Stephenson, Phyllis Hambright, and Ryley Klennert did an excellent job at the Second Saturday Sale on February 12. At the end of the day, the store earned more than $480. Many people brought in food donations during the sale. We have already delivered one carload of food (over 110 lbs) to Channel One. Thanks for your help with the food drive! There is still two weeks left to contribute in the bookstore.

Winterfest Sale 
 Many Friends volunteered to help make the Winter Fest Book sale a success. Thank you to all of you who sorted, packed books, set up, worked at the sale, or helped pack up books at the end.  And thanks to Shirley E. for the coffee and cookies enjoyed by the workers! A special thank you to Bruce Witts for his outstanding organization which made set up a breeze.

Friends Morning Coffee, Valentine's Day

We had a lovely gathering, with amazing Valentine treats - thank you to everyone. A warm birthday wish to Bev Reid too (we hoped you liked our singing!). It is really delightful to share our love of books, our volunteer efforts for the Library, and our friendships that we have developed over the years. We obviously have a great time too.

We are always open to more friends(ships): consider joining!

Valentine's Week : Library Lover's Month

February is Library Lover's Month!

Oh, Library, How do I Love Thee?

10 Top Reasons to Love the Rochester Public Library: (as noted on their blog!)

1. Books! all kinds of books!

2. Programs, lots of them for every age including Author Visits, musicians, Children’s storytimes, Independent and International Film nights, Computer Classes, etc.

3. Online Homework Help (as well as Homework Help at the library on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays!)

4. Music or Audiobook CDs

5. DVDs including feature films, foreign films, Children’s movies, documentaries, TV series, Bollywood, Exercise, etc…

6. Summer Reading Programs for both Children and Young Adults

7. Free Wifi! and Computers for accessing the Internet.

8. Reference Librarians who can help find anything. If the library doesn’t have it, that’s, ok, they know people.

9. The library has a typewriter!

10. They have great online resources.

Why do you love your library?

Rochester Reads

Literature is the last banquet between minds. Edna O'Brien

Rochester Reads events schedule:
TODAY

February 15, 12:00pm, Library - Meeting Room A The Plain Readers book group will discuss The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan.

Save the Dates::

February 25, 26 and 27, Rochester Civic Theatre lobby stage (7:00pm performances on Friday and Saturday, 2:00pm matinee on Sunday) Jerry Casper's play Faces of the Dust, tells the stories of three men from different walks of life sharing their view and struggles with the dust storms. 

February 27, 2:30pm, Library Auditorium Yaggy Colby History Lecture (currently confirming speakers)

Unusual and Special Books

Today is St. Valentine's day, one of the most popular of all saints' days -- not for any religious reasons, but because it has been associated for centuries with love and romance.
oh look
          BE MINE
with a BOOK
          and WINE!
A lovely valentine

Give a gift in Good Taste and support the Rochester Public Library on sale at Andy's Crossroads and NE store.


Is your Valentine musical? Is he or she Special? We have a wonderful selection of special music books in our Unusual and Special Display case!
Join us today for our morning coffee and find the perfect book in either our Bookstore or in this book case!

Valentine's Week

It's the week of Valentine's Day, a time to think about love affairs- real and fictional.


In 1779, Abigail Adams sent a letter , to her husband, in France, where he was there serving as an ambassador for the newly formed United States.
My Dearest Friend Febry. 13. 1779


This is the Anniversary of a very melancholy Day to me, it rose upon me this morning with the recollection of Scenes too tender to Name. — Your own Sensibility will supply your Memory and dictate to your pen a kind remembrance of those dear connections to whom you waved an adieu, whilst the full Heart and weeping Eye followed your foot steps till intervening objects obstructed the Sight.


This Anniversary shall ever be more particularly Devoted to my Friend till the happy Day arrives that shall give him back to me again. Heaven grant that it may not be far distant, and that the blessings which he has so unweariedly and constantly sought after may crown his Labours and bless his country.

From 1788 to 1798, John Adams represented the United States in Europe, with only occasional visits home. Abigail ran the family farm, raised their children, and wrote her husband many informative and interesting letters - Pick up a biography on her and prepare to be charmed!.



A beloved fictional love stories  is William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, about young lovers struggling to overcome their families' hatred of each other in Verona, Italy. Juliet is a member of the Capulet family, and Romeo, is part of the Montague family.  This is a BOOK GROUP in A BAG selection! There are so many wonderful movies - curl up on a cold winter's day and enjoy!
"What light through yonder window breaks?/It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!"
And, "Parting is such sweet sorrow."

Friends' Bookstore Second Saturday Sale

February, 12, 2011
Community with Channel 1 food donation - donate food item get 20% off the entire purchase.

Book Quotes

There are worse crimes than burning books.
One of them is not reading them.
Ray Bradbury

Happy Valentine's Day

Searching for perfect Valentine's Day presents?

How about our special book collection: The Valentine's Day Red Books (Fiction, Non-fiction, red covers!), The Passionate Red Books (romance!), The Essence-of-Spring (it's coming!), Childrens: A Child's Garden of Wonder, or Pop Up Books?  After the latest round of snow, sleet and ice, we are officially on the March 20th Spring Countdown: 40days to go until Spring! Now is the perfect time to plan your spring and summer gardens. Check out our gardening books, or practical yard tips (green books!).

How do I Love Thee?    Here are 10 Ways to Show It From the Friends!

1. Friends Membership Book Lover Category!

2. Friends Bookstore Gift Certificate

3. Friends Bookstore Second Saturday BookSale book -bring food item for Channel One!

4. Donate books/magazines, etc (clear out that space!) and receive a tax write off!

5. Volunteer at the Rochester Public Library!

6. Join us at the next Visiting Author Series:

7. Buy a bottle of wine :: Be heart healthy - drink red wine! Give the perfect gift too! Support the Library with the purchase of our red wines (cabernet and merlot) at Andy's Liquor!

8. BUY a book of choice in the Friends Bookstore (fiction, nonfiction, romance)

9. BUY the latest magazines, used cds or vhs tapes!

10. Make a donation in his or her name to the Friends of the Rochester Public Library to help support many of our community programmes.

Don't forget Chocolate Hearts ;-)

We're keeping this blog post short and sweet~~basically a reminder about Valentine's Day presents!

A.A. Gill, British Journalist

AA Gill

The Angry Island (2005) AA Gill is Away (2000), Previous Convictions(2006)
Nancy Pearl, Book Lust to Go, recommended him as a Scottish author of merit. I immediately took these books out of the Library!  From the Jacket: “AA Gill was born in Edinburgh but has lived as a refugee in London for most of his life. His cover is so deep now that few would be able to tell he wasn’t a native. He is a critic and features writer for the Sunday Times (London), contributing editor to GQ, Vanity Fair and Australian Gourmet Traveler. He lives in London and spends as much time abroad for obvious reasons.”

Words that immediately come to mind upon reading: astute, entertaining, invective, splenetic, rapier wit, a  “literary terror”, well read, well written, informative, interesting.

I have to purchase these books – I want to mark up the copies, write down the wit, re-enjoy the insight, revel in the language, laugh at myself, but also feel intensely the imagery – the English, the pubs, the deer stalking, Stonehenge, golf, queueing, his daughter, his father’s Alzheimer’s, his portrait, his mockery, his abrasiveness. There is a great deal of praise, humour, historical interest as well. Discovered all three on Kindle, but there is a fourth on Amazon that I haven't read!

He was born in Scotland but moved away at 11 months. He acknowledges that he speaks with a perfect BBC English accent: He is a foreigner in England. He reminds me so much of Clive James, although more biting, sarcastic, cranky but still with perception, history and understanding. I would love to have dinner with him. Anywhere in the world! I am so grateful that the Library had these copies – and SO wish more people knew him, read him, circulate the books!
A few classic phrases:
“The English, left on their own, are some of the most objectionable people you could wish to avoid. They have a unique national habit of bringing out the worst in each other....England and Englishness are not a matter of geography or weather, or fortuitous position in the Atlantic, they are genetic Marmite – a little bit of them goes an awful long way.”

His friends and colleagues “should not be tarred with the responsibility for the opinions here – they are all mine alone and you’re welcome to them”.

I really wanted to copy a line from each page of each book!

Naked vs nude (defined, the haggis stomach)

RGS – geography is a journey, not a destination. (Royal Geographical Society, London)

Brazil – second hand passports! 20% of the world’s supply of water (with 50% of the world’s supply already polluted – he understands the message: Brazil has it, California wants it).

Pakistan – Kipling’s most famous line was written about these people “east is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet” but the full stanza is never quoted and qualifies/changes those meanings “Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the Earth!”

I need to read more, a statement that will surely raise eyebrows amongst my friends ;-)

2011 BookList to date

As many of you know, I have had numerous travels lately with long hours in airports. Then of course hand surgery laid me up for awhile (I am beginning to type again), which lead to numerous library requests (and instant Kindle downloads).  Each book in this list has something to recommend itself and some will be reviewed in additional blog entries. NB many are the latest in series and need to be read in order. I especially enjoyed and highly recommend those marked with *.

2011 Book List


Non Fiction
James Buchan Frozen Desire: meaning of money
Andre Dubus III Townie: A Memoir
*Andrew Greig. The Loch of the Green Corrie
Simon Loxley The Secret History of Letters
Edward Hoagland Sex and the River Styx
Adam Nicolson Seamanship : a voyage along the wild coasts of the British Isles
*Adam Nicolson.God's secretaries: the making of the King James Bible
Adam Nicolson Sea Room: an island life in the Hebrides
Jane and Michael Stern 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late: and Best Places to Eat Them
Susan Allen Toth. England for all Seasons

Fiction-Mysteries
Gerald Elias Danse Macabre
Susan Fraser King Queen Hereafter
Elly Griffiths The Janus stone
Martha Grimes Fadeaway child
Deborah Harkness A Discovery of Witches
*Brigid Pasulka A long, long time ago and essentially true
*Charles Todd A Lonely Death
*Jill Paton Walsh Attenbury Emeralds
*C.J. Sansom Heartstone
Andrew Taylor The Anatomy of Ghosts

Literature
*Lauren Belfer A Fierce Radiance
Eleanor Brown Weird Sisters
Steve Martin An Object of Desire

Biography
Amy Krouse Rosenthal Encyclopedia Of An Ordinary Life
*A.A. Gill The Angry Island: hunting the English
A.A. Gill Previous Convictions: assignments from here and there; AA Gill is Away

Romance
Jayne Ann Krentz Arcane In Too Deep

Childrens
Gregory Maguire Three Rotten Eggs (2002)

Science Fiction
Karen Marie Moning Shadowfever

Friends' Morning Coffee

Friends' Bookstore - February Sales and Second Saturday Sale

Book Lovers February Food Drive

During the month of February, the Friends' Bookstore will be collecting food for Channel One.  Each time that you bring a food donation to the store, you will be able to register for $5 and $10 Bookstore Gift Certificates to be given away during a drawing held on February 28.  Channel One is especially in need of protein-based items (tuna fish, peanut butter, Spam, etc.) and items for main dish meals.  The Friends' Bookstore opens Monday through Saturday at 10:00 AM and on Sunday at 1:30 PM.

 

Join Paige Turner for our February Second Saturday Sale!

2nd Saturday Sale - Channel One Fundraiser

The Friends' Bookstore will hold its 2nd Saturday sale on Saturday, February 12, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM in the foyer of the Rochester Public Library.  With your donation of a food item for Channel One, you will receive 20% off your total purchase, both in the foyer and the Bookstore.  Channel One is especially in need of protein-based items (tuna fish, peanut butter, Spam, etc.) and items for main dish meals.

Winterfest Booksale

Winterfest Booksale


Monday February 7th

Friends early admission at 10:30 a.m.

Public 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.


Tuesday February 8th

10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

 

Hot Reads for Cool Nights at unbeatable prices!

Wit Wisdom and Wine Foundation/Friends/Library Event 2011

For a recap of the 10th Annual Wit Wisdom & Wine fundraiser for the Rochester Public Library, please view the new photos the library's Flickr  site and check out the library blog!

Friends' Bookstore News

Friends’ Bookstore – End of the Year Summary (Managers' Report)

2010 was a year of growth and change for the Friends’ Bookstore. The Bookstore Committee focused on several areas this year, including alphabetizing fiction, increasing advertising, adding special Saturday sales, and recruiting new volunteers.
The re-organization alphabetized fiction, both paperbacks and hard cover books.  John Hunziker built shelves to fill the tops of our window bookcases which allowed us to both increase the number of books we display as well as to reduce the crowding on our shelves. Another huge help in this re-organization project was a large bookshelf donated  by Barnes & Noble, which allowed us to remove three carousels and consolidate and alphabetize all of the mystery and suspense novels as well as classics and science fiction. Later Barnes & Noble donated a smaller shelving unit that enabled us to remove the final carousel and re-organize general fiction and romances. The library also gave us a shelving unit that permitted the alphabetizing of all of the trade-size fiction on one side and all of the new hard cover fiction and non-fiction on the other. Finally, we re-organized the built-in shelves, so all of the hardcover one- and two-dollar fiction is on the East wall.  As a result, the Bookstore has a much more professional look – plus customers’ favorite authors are easy to find. Sue MacMillan has kept the store beautiful with her clever and timely displays. 

In 2010, the Friends’ Bookstore dramatically increased its online presence. Helen Whitney-McIver and Ginny Erbe kept the Friends’ events in the public eye via Twitter, Facebook, Blog and the library website. We have advertised all of our sales online as well as on local cable channels. Sorters, including Mary Leppala, Pat Stephenson, and Phyllis Hambright screened books for online sales. Pat Stephenson, Al Dollerschell, Sylvie Nickels, and Carol Smyrk handled the online sales for the Friends.
In 2010 we began our Second Saturday Sales, with each sale revolving around a theme such as cookbooks or beach reads. Held in the library foyer, the sales dramatically increased community awareness of the Bookstore. Although we occasionally get the question, "Oh, do you have a bookstore?" most of the library patrons have learned about the store and look forward to seeing Paige Turner in the foyer. The sales are a good source of revenue. The Friends’ Bookstore again participated in the Art Walk and had a booth at ArtiGras in August. Finally, the Bookstore has many new volunteers, both cashiers and sorters, who have joined us this year. One of them, Sandy Glocke, has painted our windows with books, and each season she has added decorations to match. Currently, we have snowflakes although we are looking forward to spring!
In October, the Bookstore celebrated its 15-year anniversary, so it seemed appropriate to present the store with a facelift, updating the appearance. Sue MacMillan created a chart that shows the growth of the Bookstore sales and donations to the library during this time.
 On January 19, the Friends’ Bookstore presented a check to the Library Board for $52,000, our donation for 2010. This is in addition to the over $250,000 in materials that the Library took for its collections during the year. All in all, 2010 was a great year due to all the hard work and dedication of our many volunteers. THANK YOU ALL!

Christine Rosholt Jazz Quintet

Christine Rosholt

Christine Rosholt Jazz Quintet performed at the Rochester Civic Theatre on Wednesday, February 2 as part of the Rochester Reads celebration. For those who love Jazz standards of the 1930s and '40s, Christine Rosholt offers a treat. She combines a great voice, charming attitude and presence to breath new life into old standards.
 Visit the Rochester Reads website for more information of our events and to see the book titles chosen as a theme for this year's program.

This program was funded in part or in whole with money from the Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Sponsorship provided by SELCO.

Winterfest Booksale

REMINDER - SAVE THE DATE!

Winterfest  Booksale   

Monday February 7^th   

Friends early admission at 10:30 a.m.

Public  11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

                        

Tuesday February 8^th   

10:00 a.m. -  3:00 p.m.

Library Lovers Month

February is Library Lovers Month
Libraries support the local and regional communities and provide invaluable services. Whether public or private, they contain a wealth of information, education and entertainment. It is important to acknowledge and celebrate the existence of our libraries - please consider supporting your local library, especially this month with a donation (remember it is also a tax deduction!).

By supporting libraries (our local library is the Rochester Public Library, which is a stellar example of a wonderful community library), you celebrate the hard working individuals that maintain them through out the year. Libraries have to work hard to stay afloat, especially in these financially stressed times.  Consider a donation to the Foundation, to the Friends, to the Friends Bookstore or a donation of materials (books, cds, dvds, music, etc).  Lend them a hand the next time they lend you a book.

Poetry has a delightful way of expressing our love and passion. These poems were shared recently at a local bookclub.
IN A LIBRARY
by Emily Dickinson

A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is
To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think,

His venerable hand to take,
And warming in our own,
A passage back, or two, to make
To times when he was young.

His quaint opinions to inspect,
His knowledge to unfold
On what concerns our mutual mind,
The literature of old;

What interested scholars most,
What competitions ran
When Plato was a certainty.
And Sophocles a man;

When Sappho was a living girl,
And Beatrice wore
The gown that Dante deified.
Facts, centuries before,

He traverses familiar,
As one should come to town
And tell you all your dreams were true;
He lived where dreams were sown.

His presence is enchantment,
You beg him not to go;
Old volumes shake their vellum heads
And tantalize, just so.


Book Lovers
Jenny Lewis (The Guardian, 2000)

Let's meet tonight between the covers
to thum each other's spines
like true book lovers.
Steamy passion or sweet romance,
with titles picked at random, our mood will depend on chance.
I'll stroke your hard back and thighs,
trail my fingers over your fly-
leaf - admire your point size.
You'll enjoy ogling my index,
fondling my frontispiece, thinking
I'm just the type you like for sex.
I'll let you flip my pages, skim
my contents, skip my appendix
or linger over my fine lines at whim.
And if I get pregnant (which I won't)
let's meet again - in nine months' time.
You choose the font.

Methodical Preparation
Nan Babcock from Poetic Strokes, Regional anthology of Poetry from SE MN
Selco

Peruse the shelves to find
the exact volume that you want
Read the blurb on the back cover
or the flaps of the dust jacket.
Open the pages
and sniff the scent of ink and paper.
Press open the beginning and
stretch the spine so each word is visible.
Savor with anticipation
the message that will unfold.

Rochester Reads - The Worst Hard Time

Rochester Reads seeks to encourage community discussion, family reading, literacy, understanding and cross community interaction by promoting the reading of one book and hosting discussions and events about the book.
This year Rochester Reads focuses on three books written about the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s.
The main selection is The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, which tells the story of a time when "Dust clouds boiled up, ten thousand feet or more in the sky, and rolled like moving mountains".
Allison Lassieur's The Dust Bowl: An Interactive History Adventure has been selected as the junior title. This "You Choose" book explores many different story paths through the Dust Bowl years.
Leah's Pony by Elizabeth Friedrich and Michael Garland, the picture book selection, tells the story of a farm family in the Great Plains trying to survive in a time of bank foreclosures and economic hardship.

The Friends of the Rochester Public Library are one of the proud 2011 Sponsors of this programme.