A Celtic Evening - Fundraiser for Rochester Public Library

Enjoy Halloween. After the trick-or-treaters have been, have a Thriller Night with the Spooky Spirits! This is a perfect pairing with thriller books such as John Connolly, Thomas Harris, Edgar Allen Poe, Washington Irving, etc


And then be sure to join us for A Celtic Evening Fundraiser on November 30th where we will be sampling no-so-spooky spirits.
This fundraiser is for the Rochester Public Library featuring:

Food and Whisky pairing
Pipes
Limericks
 Men in Kilts contest
 Raffle/silent auction

Friends' Bookstore Second Saturday Sale

Saturday, November 13
Best of the Bookstore! Buy one/Get one Free on coffee table books and your choice of a free Friends' t-shirt or a canvas library bag when you spend $20.00 or more.
10:00 am - 1:00 pm in the library foyer

Don't wait for this sale to check out the Halloween and Autumn book displays in the Book store.
New selections arrive daily, shouldn't you?

Threads of our community award

October 7 was Friends‟ day at the MN Library
Association Conference in Rochester. In the morning
Karen and Annette (who planned and assembled the
quilt) joined Shirley Edmonson in presenting the
Threads of the Community Quilt Project. After
presentations by Rochester, Staples, and Roseville,
Barbi Byers announced that Rochester had won the
”Best Project by Friends Award,” including a check
for $1,000! Congratulations to all those who worked
on the quilt project and on the presentation.
Later that afternoon, Mary Barrett and Al
Dollerschell made a presentation about Friends‟
bookstores, called “Sell Every Book that you Can!”
Many of our library friends were there to support
us!

Bookstore Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast

All of the people who volunteer in the bookstore, including pricers and sorters, are invited to attend
a breakfast on October 22, 2010 in the library auditorium. We will be serving breakfast pizza,
fruit, sweets, and coffee, beginning at 9:00 AM. We would like to have a rough idea of how many
people are coming before we order food, so please RSVP yes or no when you get this newsletter.
You may come dressed as your favorite author; we will be giving prizes for the three best outfits.
Some of last year's characters included: Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and Brother Cadfael.

A Celtic Evening update

We currently have over 75 people attending  our Celtic Evening fundraiser for the Rochester Public Library Foundation in the DoubleTree hotel to celebrate St. Andrew's night. 

Silent auction items are being received and include:  several bottles of single malt whisky, Scottish teas and tea pot, Scottish Santa embroidery picture, numerous books  on Scotland, basket with Hendricks Gin, a basket on Scottish golf, etc. We would be delighted to accept additional donations as all proceeds help the Rochester Public Library. 

Steve and Dawn Finnie won a bottle of whisky in our second prize draw for online registration. There is still time to register and enter for the grand prize which will be drawn on the 30th November.

 

A Celtic Evening - Fundraiser for Rochester Public Library

Calling all Celts! (you know who you are - even honorary for one night Celts) 
Celebrate St. Andrew's, the patron saint of Scotland, on the traditional day of 30th November, with our fundraiser for the Rochester Public Library Foundation.

Find out why men in kilts (pipers) were called the Ladies from Hell.

Earlybird registration ends Tomorrow!

Book Quotes

Beware of a man of one book. Robert Southey (1774-1843)

It would be worth the while to select our reading, for books are the society we keep; to read only the serenely true; never statistics nor fiction, nor news, nor reports, nor periodicals, but only great poems, and when they failed, read them again, or perchance write more.  Henry David Thoreau (1817-62)

The covetous man who is in the extreme state of book-loving, is the biblioklept, or book stealer.
The Library (Andrew Lang, 1844-1912)

Books may be burned and cities sacked, but truth like the yearning for freedom, lives in ultimate victory, the ultimate victory of tomorrow is with democracy; and true democracy with education.... FDR (1882-1945)

Treat Books gently, for they are friends that never change. We benefit by their advice, and they exact no confessions. Rule 10 from the Art of Bookbinding Josheph W Zaehnsdorf 1880.

Columbus Day

It's Columbus Day when we remember Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas. He was looking for a new trade route to Asia, and decided to sail due west instead of south around Cape Horn. He didn't discover the Americas,  people lived here already, but he was the first to publicize the existence and wealth, sparking waves of exploration.  He carried with him a copy of several maps/books which showed the world was round. (For further information read The World of George Mercator, which is a fascinating historical account of maps, although mostly after Columbus' voyage).  Columbus was turned down twice by the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, until they conquered the Moorish kingdom of Granada and had some extra treasure.

Columbus sailed with three incredibly small ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. I have seen the replicas and they are smaller than a tennis court. How many people were onboard?? After sailing for nearly a month, they saw a light on the western horizon about 10:00 p.m. on October 11, 1492. Columbus said it was "like a little wax candle that was lifting and rising." They went ashore the following day, probably on one of the islands of the Bahamas.

Before Columbus died in 1506, he  made several voyages to explore this new route to Asia, but never became a rich man as a result of his exploration.

I also HIGHLY recommend reading Tony Horwitz's book : A Voyage Long and Strange, which has some wonderful direct translations of Columbus' diary. Horwitz's writing style is highly entertaining which makes for very interesting reading.

Another Celtic Evening

Get into the SCOTTISH SPIRIT(s) as a preview to our Celtic Evening on November 30th, join us at the Rochester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale on November 6.  See their website for details.

The Book of Night Women - Marlon James

Reminder, Marlon James will be at the Rochester Public Library on Sunday, October 10 at 2:00 in the Auditorium.

Notes from the library catalog: Lilith was born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the end of the eighteenth century. Even at her birth, the slave women around her recognize a dark power that they--and she--will come to both revere and fear. The Night Women, as they call themselves, have long been plotting a slave revolt, and as Lilith comes of age and reveals the extent of her power, they see her as the key to their plans. But when she begins to understand her own feelings and desires and identity, Lilith starts to push at the edges of what is imaginable for the life of a slave woman in Jamaica, and risks becoming the conspiracy's weak link.

Friends' Bookstore

Instead of a Second Saturday Sale, the Friends' Bookstore is holding an Open House with cookies on Saturday the 9th October.
We will also have a Best of the Bookstore selection of books for sale. Please join us.

Mark your calendars for the 22nd of October when the Friends will also have a coffee morning to thank all the Friends and volunteers for their efforts throughout the year. We will also have a contest with prizes for people to dress as their favourite literary character or author. Come join the fun. Being a Friend has its advantages!!

Book Quotes

It all comes out of the books I read,
And it all goes into the books I write.
Henry Charles Beeching (1859-1919)

The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading in order to write: a man will turn over half of a library in order to make one book. The Life of Samuel Johnson James Boswell (1740-95)

The man who is asked by an author what he thinks of his work, is put to the torture, and is not obliged to speak the truth. Samuel Johnson (1709-84)

Some books are lies frae end to end. Robert Burns (1759-96)

There is no pleasure like reading a bad review of a fellow author's work, especially if I have written it myself.
A contemporary writer who prefers to remain anonymous.

The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them. Samuel Butler (1835-1902)

Marlon James - Visiting Author Series

Please join us October 10 - 2:00 pm in the Rochester Public Library Auditorium
Marlon James will be talking about his recently published book,  The Book of Night Women.
Join us for this interesting interactive presentation.

Marlon James was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1970. He graduated from The University of the West Indies in 1991 with a B.A in Literature, and Wilkes University in 2006 with an M.A. in Creative Writing.
His second novel, The Book of Night Women, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, The NAACP Image Award, and The Minnesota Book Award, and was New York Magazine’s third best book of the year.
He is currently working on his third novel.
Find Marlon James online:
http://marlon-james.blogspot.com/
http://marlonjames.com/

Be sure to check out his great interview on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XcnJVWBfdI