The Best At His Game

Read Charlotte Canelli's column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

While my children were growing up, holiday tradition always included playing games. As the years passed, Candyland, Sorry, and Go Fish! led to Scattergories, Balderdash, and Hearts. Jenga, a family-favorite tower game of stacking blocks, provided late afternoon fun for various generations. We’ll always miss my elderly aunt Betty who was the master of the steady hand into her late eighties.
Over the years the popularity of board games came and went as kids grew up. Sometimes adult patience wore thin with multiple hours of competitive Monopoly or with the more calculating and troublesome warring game of Risk. As time passed there came teenage angst, family divisions, leavings and comings and less opportunity for the Currier and Ives postcard holiday.

While my children were growing up, holiday tradition always included playing games. As the years passed, Candyland, Sorry, and Go Fish! led to Scattergories, Balderdash, and Hearts. Jenga, a family-favorite tower game of stacking blocks, provided late afternoon fun for various generations. We’ll always miss my elderly aunt Betty who was the master of the steady hand into her late eighties.

Over the years the popularity of board games came and went as kids grew up. Sometimes adult patience wore thin with multiple hours of competitive Monopoly or with the more calculating and troublesome warring game of Risk. As time passed there came teenage angst, family divisions, leavings and comings and less opportunity for the Currier and Ives postcard holiday.

This year my family had more time together in their fourth “blended” year. The rebirth of the gaming tradition found us playing our new family favorite, Bananagrams. If you aren’t familiar with the game, it is something like Scrabble but you play a kind of solitaire with your own portion of the 144 letter tiles. The square plastic tiles are stored in a fabric banana, zippered for storage.I found that a soft Bananagrams game stuffs perfectly in the toe of a Christmas stocking. All of my family members found some version of the game in their stockings this holiday. Those who already had one fruit came across a delicious alternative. New variations are the domino-like game stuffed into a zippered fabric apple or the word pair construction stuffed into a fabric pear.

Players of the original Bananagrams game take a certain number of tiles from the “bunch,” depending on the size of the crowd playing the game. Each player proceeds to make his or her own crossword of intersecting and connecting words.Our family rules include no proper nouns, place names, etc. and foreign language words aren’t acceptable except those commonly used in English (ballet, antique, for example). One of our family members is fluent in Spanish and we are careful to keep him in line. (Spanish and Norwegian editions of the game are available for multilingual families.)

The Bananagrams website (bananagrams-intl.com) informs us that the game was created by a large extended family living on both “sides of the pond” – in the UK and the US. These multiple generations or word-lovers spent summers together on the eastern seaboard of the United States and were on a quest – for a game that included all ages, had few pieces, and was easily-transportable with no large game board.The play on the word “anagram” and the concept of a game named after a comical fruit resulted in the birth of Bananagrams. While the formal definition of “anagram” is a word or phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word of phrase (such as “Elvis” to “lives”), another definition is simply that of a game in which players form words from a group of randomly picked letters.

The game of Bananagrams begins with the exclaimed word “split!” As the word-forming frenzy speeds up and the individual crosswords become larger, the tiles become fewer and the pressure to find words that use that elusive x or that impossible q rises. When one player has no tiles left he or she shouts “Peel!” and all players are forced to take another tile. When one player has used all his or her tiles and there are no tiles left to go around, that player shouts “Bananas!” and wins the hand. (Players check for unacceptable words. In the event of one, the offending player is a rotten banana and is thrown out, the tiles returned to the table and the game continues.) Bananagrams, interestingly, can be quite simple. Some of the more erudite members of the family can get caught up in trying to make the words too complicated. (“Oratorical” can take up most of your precious vowels and leave very little possibility for that rogue Q or Z.)

My eldest daughter’s beau, a new college professor, has some problem coming up with game-winning shorter words that the rest of us find so easy. He never wins a game and is often left with several disconnected, albeit impressive, words on the table. We’ve teased him mercilessly that all of his education has ruined his game.The morning after Christmas he proved himself the winner. In a quiet game of Bananagrams-for-two and in a well-orchestrated move he failed to make a single connected crossword. He had, however, surreptitiously collected seven little letters he placed before the unsuspecting love of his life: “marry me.” A Bananagrams win that aced them all.

The Morrill Memorial Library has its own offerings of games – both adult and kids play Scrabble on Tuesday evenings, complete with challenges, competitions and champions. We’re thinking of some possibilities of a family game night with additions of more board games for intergenerational ages. Please call us with ideas and interest. Visit our website, www.norwoodlibrary.org or call 781-769-0200 for more information about all of our programs. 

On A Snowy Evening

Read Charlotte Canelli's column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

Waking up to drifting snow against our windowpanes last Sunday I was reminded again of why I love living in New England. The romance of snowy woods and twinkling lights through the shrouded dawn cause me to catch my breath every time. The tradition of the seasons, the poetry of life and the rhythms of New England are part of my soul.
Although I was born in Massachusetts I moved away in 1959 and grew up in the San Francisco East Bay in Northern California. There we had a four-hour car ride to the Sierra Nevada mountain range with its constant wintery snowfalls. It’s not quite the same, however, when your own home’s front walk and backyard aren’t part of the seasonal fairytale.

Waking up to drifting snow against our windowpanes last Sunday I was reminded again of why I love living in New England. The romance of snowy woods and twinkling lights through the shrouded dawn cause me to catch my breath every time. The tradition of the seasons, the poetry of life and the rhythms of New England are part of my soul.

Although I was born in Massachusetts I moved away in 1959 and grew up in the San Francisco East Bay in Northern California. There we had a four-hour car ride to the Sierra Nevada mountain range with its constant wintery snowfalls. It’s not quite the same, however, when your own home’s front walk and backyard aren’t part of the seasonal fairytale.

And so this morning, happily cozied up to a fire inside my home and writing my seasonal greeting cards, I found myself singing a familiar New England song. The words to the well-known poem “Over the River and Through the Woods” were written by Medford-born Lydia Maria Child. Her poem was included in an anthology titled “Flowers for Children” in 1844.

The children’s departments in the Minuteman Library Network have more than a half-dozen versions of Child’s illustrated verse in over a dozen copies, all titled “Over the River and Through the Woods.” Lydia Maria Child and her husband, David, lived on a farm not far from Norwood in Wayland. It isn’t difficult to imagine the woods she wrote about which are duplicated in every community for miles around.

Since the 19th Century, that poem and song have been closely associated with Thanksgiving Day and the festivity of families gathering for the holiday. In fact, the poem was originally titled “A Boy’s Thanksgiving Day.” This Thanksgiving Day, 2009, however, was mild and balmy and no inspiration for an over-the-river-and-through-the woods revelry.

Maria Child (the author hated her first name, Lydia) became one of the first American women who actually earned enough from her writing to live on. “The American Frugal Housewife” and “The Mother’s Book” were some of her popular books – well before Martha Stewart captivated an audience.

Child also wrote of pioneering Americans long several decades before Laura Ingalls Wilder and her Little House series. It may surprise us, then, that Child went on to become a passionate abolitionist and activist. It’s little wonder that American audiences preferred her poems and writings dealing with domestic bliss and many turned away from her political writings. Who can resist “Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done? Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!” over more serious writing?

It also might be only when you drive through a perfect New England countryside that you imagine Robert Frost musing over the same spot of woods that you have occasioned upon. While Frost won his first of four Pulitzer prizes for his 1927 book of poems “New Hampshire,” it is “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” that we have all learned by heart. It might also be the one poem of Frost that is taught and anthologized more than any other.

One of the most beautiful children’s books of illustrated poetry is Susan Jeffers account of Frost’s poem. Originally published in 1978 it was republished in 2001. Children find the same magic in Frost’s words, “whose woods these are I think I know.”

Interestingly, the poem is only sixteen lines. Frost’s economy resonates with so many of us who have witnessed just such a winter wonder that pulls us in so many directions. “The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep.” Frost’s narrator shakes off his romantic contemplation and faces the reality of his long journey.

The journeys are always there; stopping to take in the quiet and beauty around us in our New England countryside may be what is needed. Many of us would be better off in the hustle and bustle of this holiday season life to take another kind of advice from Frost’s work: stopping for a moment to witness the magic of our New England countryside.

Visit our website, www.norwoodlibrary.org or call 781-769-0200. We wish you a happy, healthy and safe winter. The library is open seven days a week throughout the winter and spring. Check out weather alert blog on the website for any snow closings. 

The Holiday Memory Play

Read Margot Sullivan's entire article in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Excerpt:

I began to think of memories of holidays and those memories are certainly not realistic but definitely emotional. At Thanksgiving I always remember the huge gatherings at my Aunt’s house in Brookline. She made everything from scratch – and often only slept two or three hours before the big day. Then afterwards the adults would settle in to play bridge. I loved that day of long ago!

A Dicken's of a Tale

Read Charlotte Canelli's column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

"There is nothing like a good holiday book or movie to fight off holiday trauma. One of Dickens’s reasons for writing “A Christmas Carol” was, in fact, to circumvent the holiday humbugness of the day. He and Washington Irving had an exceedingly romantic relationship with the glorious and harmonious Christmas traditions far from the madding crowd. Dickens merely translated them to the urban squalor of an industrial city of the 19th Century"

As usual I spent some time with one of my favorite holiday films this Thanksgiving. Tradition was turned on its head this year so I especially needed the sensory fix. We were visiting with my eldest daughter in her new hometown and my small family of three was put up in overflow housing: borrowed lodgings in a bachelor pad next door. (The bachelor professor having left the scene for sunny California.)

Bachelors don’t seem to do much baking, I found out. Still, I managed to create my holiday pies with no measuring spoons or cups, whisk, or rolling pin. As I fumbled and bumbled around the gentleman’s tiny kitchen I somehow managed to distract myself from this lack of proper utensils. I watched the 1938 version of “A Christmas Carol” on my laptop, which was perched on an overturned pot set on the cramped kitchen counter.

There is nothing like a good holiday book or movie to fight off holiday trauma. One of Dickens’s reasons for writing “A Christmas Carol” was, in fact, to circumvent the holiday humbugness of the day. He and Washington Irving had an exceedingly romantic relationship with the glorious and harmonious Christmas traditions far from the madding crowd. Dickens merely translated them to the urban squalor of an industrial city of the 19th Century.

The book was published in December of 1843 and, while it sold 6,000 copies in just a few short weeks, it wasn’t particularly lucrative for Dickens due to high production costs. It did announce his comeback from his literary bomb, Martin Chuzzlewit, so “A Christmas Carol” can be considered a definite success.  The book, in fact, has never been out of print since that year 166 years ago.

One of my favorite versions of the book is “The Annotated Christmas Carol,” edited by Michael Patrick Hearn. Some versions of Dickens’ book are a mere 72 pages long; the annotated version includes an introduction longer than that and an appendix nearly as long as the introduction. This entire annotated version is rich with reproduced portraits and engravings and original illustrations by John Leech. The annotations enhance the reading with definitions (the post-boy, the garden-sweep, “lay the cloth” and “have a warm”) and descriptions of Dickens’ own life history, and customs and traditions of the day.

One commentary tells us that while the more well-to-do were “flocking through the streets in their best clothes and with their gayest faces” the poorest were emerging “from scores of bye streets, lanes and nameless turnings…carrying their dinners to the bakers’ shops.”

The explanation tells us that the poor houses of the time did not have large kitchens or any baking help and they were poorly-equipped. Dishes and items were then sent to professionals to bake over the requisite open fire. In another commentary it is revealed that Dickens had great empathy for his Scrooge character, who, while a young boy, was forced to remain away at boarding school for the holidays. Dickens himself had to take lodgings away from his family who had been set to debtor’s prison when he was only 12 years old.

Not in the mood for actually reading, or re-reading, the entire “A Christmas Carol”? Not interested in muddling through all those bothersome annotations? You can listen to Patrick Stewart for a mere 90 minutes in the audio version on CD. Or you can see the most recent film version. (Jim Carrey plays eight different roles in Disney’s new film.) Bill Murray in the 1988 “Scrooged” is a more irreverent telling of the similar tale. Another version that you might find at the library, the 1951 “Scrooge” fools a bit with Dickens’ tale but leaves in the best parts, nevertheless.

Interestingly, Americans did not fall in love with Dickens’ A Christmas Carol until after the Civil War. Perhaps it was our need for the romance of a life before that terrible war that caused us to turn towards a tale of love and family and solutions for the poverty, broken homes and hearts.

Downtrodden readers can relate to the characters in Dickens’s novels and to the themes of redemption, goodness and hope. Whatever your reason this season, spend some time with a holiday film or book.

Visit our website, www.norwoodlibrary.org or call 781-769-0200. We wish you a happy, healthy and safe December.

Thanking Fanny Farmer

Read Charlotte Canelli's column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

These days I have to confess I don’t cook very much or at least I rely on tried-but-true recipes from my more-eager cooking days when I do. When I remarried over two years ago, that was one of the perks on the table, so to speak. I had only to show up for dinner each night (hopefully on time or with a good excuse if otherwise.)

My husband often relies on fast recipes for the weeknights due to the time crunch between his arrival home and our grandson’s homework and bedtime. And he always makes a stop at the grocery store for a last-minute purchase. One of his favorite new tricks is to use his new iPhone app, “Epicurious.” This handy Internet novelty not only hands over a recipe (using one or more search ingredients) but also gives him an exact shopping list. And all at the tap of his finger.

Would our most famous Boston cooks approve? Known for some of the most complicated recipes in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” Julia Child could also make things as simple as possible. Julia’s roast turkey recipe includes a short list of ingredients: oil, salt, pepper, celery onions, lemon, butter. And Port or Madeira, if desired. Even Fanny would approve of that.

 

            I searched for my favorite holiday cranberry sauce recipe this past weekend and came across my mother’s “Fanny Farmer Cookbook.” It was handed down to me nearly thirty years ago and it bears the stains of several generations of cooking. I grew up the daughter of a traditional New England cook who was transplanted to Northern California. Most of my friends had never tasted Baked Beans or Oyster Stew, let alone watched their mothers cook them all from scratch.  My mother actually had a baked bean cooker, much like a modern and trendy crock pot. Those chubby little white beans soaked all Friday night, they simmered all the next day (along with a huge slab of salt pork) and every corner of the house steamed with a rich molasses smell by Saturday night. Lemony Snow Pudding or Coffee Jelly rivaled the tastiest desserts of my friends’ homes.  My mother’s apple pie crust was never store bought. I have Fanny to thank for it. 

            As a young wife I must admit that I didn’t actually “cook” from Fanny Farmer but often referred to her when I needed some basic instruction. I was the experimental type and preferred to wrestle through Craig Claiborne’s “NYT International Cookbook” (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, p. 184 or Pork Chops Veracruz, p. 470) I moved on in the next decade to Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins of the Silver Palate Restaurant fame.  Roast Lamb with Peppercorn Crust (p. 100) and the best hummus recipe I’ve ever had (p.346) both from “The Silver Palate Cookbook” and Cajun Chicken Morsels (p. 25) of “the Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook.”

            Our library has most of these books on its shelves – and many more written a bit more recently. One of the newest cookbooks in the library is “Bubbly’s Brunch Cookbook.”  In the introduction, restaurant owner and chef Ron Silver tells us that ‘of all the meals you’ll ever make, brunch is the most flexible, the most forgiving and the most fun.” I happen to agree and my repertoire of quiche and tarts proves it to be quite true. Silver gives us great breakfast menus to try – the Pancake Lovers Brunch through to a Midnight Brunch for Two. 

            In TV Chef Charles Mattocks’ new cookbook, “Eat Cheap But Eat Well” the author tells us that “it’s always good to have some vegetarian dishes in your repertoire,” with recipes like Barley and Apple Pilaf and Portobello Burgers. Raising his son on his own, Mattocks began by watching cooking shows on television. He became known as The Poor Chef and his cookbook is rich with traditional meals without the fuss of fancy ingredients.

             Those best cookbooks are sometimes ones that make our lives simple. “Cooking With All Things Trader Joe’s” by Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati has been on the library shelves since last winter.  With a store just newly opened in Dedham the book and its recipes could be both a timesaver and a repertoire-stretcher. “Spinach and Artichoke Chicken Crepes” and “Calamari Brodetto” (and all of the recipes in the cookbook) use fresh, frozen, canned and bottled ingredients right from Trader Joe’s shelves.

            Like Julie Powell (“Julie and Julia”), author Stephanie O’Dea made a New Year’s resolution to use her slow cooker every single day for an entire year. “Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking.” includes Breakfast Risotto and Tomatoes and Goat Cheese with Balsamic Cranberry Syrup among the 300 recipes that resulted from her quest.  

            These days I have to confess I don’t cook very much or at least I rely on tried-but-true recipes from my more-eager cooking days when I do.  When I remarried over two years ago that was one of the perks on the table, so to speak. I had only to show up for dinner each night (hopefully on time or with a good excuse if otherwise.) 

            My husband often relies on fast recipes for the weeknights due to the time crunch between his arrival home and our grandson’s homework and bedtime. And he always makes a stop at the grocery store for a last-minute purchase. One of his favorite new tricks is to use his new iPhone app, “Epicurious.”  This handy Internet novelty not hands over a recipe (using one or more search ingredients) but also gives him an exact shopping list. And all at the tap of his finger.

            Would our most famous Boston cooks approve? Known for some of the most complicated recipes in “Julia Child’s French Cooking,” Julia Child could also make things as simple as possible.  Julia’s Roast Turkey recipe includes a short list of ingredients, oil, salt, pepper, celery onions, lemon, butter. And Port or Madeira, if desired. Even Fanny would approve of that.

            Visit our website, www. norwoodlibrary.org or call 781-769-0200.  We look forward to seeing you in the library browsing our cookbooks, searching the Internet or attending our programs. 

Happy Thanksgiving

The From the Library column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript will not be published this week. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Simple Request

Read Kelly Unsworth's entire column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

A few weeks ago, an unsuspecting father came into the children’s room of the library to make a simple request: he wanted books that would help him teach his daughter to be kind to her younger brother. I’m sure he was looking for books with a story about sharing, being helpful and patient, and treating others as you would like to be treated.

He wanted books that would explain to his child why she shouldn’t hit her brother with a Lego block every time he cried, or pour raspberry Jell-O over his head when she didn’t want any more. A simple request.

Paying it Forward

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

Last month I wrote about Ben Franklin in my column about Daylight Savings Time. Imagine my surprise when I would come across Ben again in this week’s research.
Franklin’s wisdom and understanding of paying it forward was exemplified in April of 1784 when he wrote in a letter to a Benjamin Webb: “I do not pretend to give such a Sum; I only lend it to you. When you meet with another honest Man in similar Distress, you must pay me by lending this Sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the Debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro’ many hands, before it meets with a Knave that will stop its Progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.”
(And while Ben Franklin gets the credit for writing the letter above we must give credit where credit is due. Robert Heinlein actually coined the phrase, “paying it forward” in his book “Between Planets,” in 1951.)

Eating Crow and Other Unpalatable Expressions

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column this week in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Excerpt:

One of our newest books in the library is the just-published “I’m Not Hanging Noodles In Your Ears and Other Intriguing Idioms From Around the World,” by Jag Bhalla. The useful information in this book might be learning what not to say. The cover of the book includes the information that the expression (in Bengali) of “thighs shaped like banana trees” is a compliment to women.

One might avoid the expression in this country, however.

Some of my favorite expressions explained in Bhalla’s book are Hindi. To address the ground? To be dejected. To loosen the turban? To be crestfallen. To drink a mouthful of blood? Essentially, to eat crow. In any language it’s a humiliating experience. Charlotte Canelli, Library Director

1001 Ways To Spend Your Time

Read Margot Sullivan's entire article in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Excerpt:

"All of a sudden I was seeing 1,000 and 1,001 books on many subjects everywhere I went! In our summer Beach Reads book review program Beth Goldman reviewed “1001 Foods You Must Taste Before You Die.” Not only was this a daunting task but at least half of the foods I had never heard of.
Then I discovered “1,000 Films to Change Your Life.” My life is kind of humdrum so I should watch a film every day in between reading my book, eating a new food, and preparing a new recipe.
But wait a minute, what is missing? “1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.” How will I fit in listening to a recording? I guess I will never sleep." Margot Sullivan, Reference Librarian

A Year of Living ... Literally

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire article in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript this week

Excerpt:

Nina Sankovitch and Christopher Beha both read through the emotional paralysis of their separate griefs and found strength; Nina and Roger Martin battled their demons in books they had never read before and found enlightenment; she and A.J. Jacobs were able to put their lives on hold for a time to accomplish their finite goals.

Nina is near the end of the 365 books in the past year and she admitted in the BBC radio interview that there are many dust bunnies under her furniture and that she will attend to more of the daily chores in her life once her quest is done. Something tells me, though, that Nina Sankovitch’s dust bunnies will still be there, tomorrow and next year, while she travels the country on a book tour to promote her year of living … literally. Charlotte Canelli, Library Director

Times They Are A-Changin'

Read the entire article this week in the Norwood Bulletin and Transcript by librarians Marie Lydon, Hope Anderson, and Tina Blood.

Excerpt:

"It’s been our privilege to serve with many wonderful and dedicated staff members who have become not just co-workers, but friends and family throughout our years. They accepted, adjusted and adapted to the many policy, personnel and procedural changes, allowing the library to hum along without any interruptions.

In all these 41 years of library history, our dedication to the Morrill Memorial Library and our devotion to each other have remained constant. We are: Hope Anderson, Children’s Librarian, Tina Blood, Literacy Volunteer Coordinator and Marie Lydon, Reference Librarian and we have served the library and the Town of Norwood for a total of 123 years." Tina Blood, Hope Anderson, Marie Lydon

Saving Time With Ben

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire article in the Norwood Transcript and Record this week.

Excerpt:

"Did you know it was our Ben who also gave the world the idea for a daylight saving time as early as 1784? Ben Franklin was an American delegate in Paris and the Parisian sleeping habits made no sense to him. In his essay, “An Economical Project,” Franklin estimated that much money would be saved if the residents of Paris would just change their clocks to awaken early with the daylight.

Parisians, it seems, were notorious for late bedtimes, eating, reading, conversing, and living by candlelight. If those Paris dwellers would just reset their clocks, the sunlight would “awaken the sluggards effectually and make them open their eyes to see their true interests…All the difficulty will be in the first two or three days; after which the reformation will be as natural and easy as the present irregularity…Oblige a man to rise at four in the morning, and it is probable he will go willingly to bed at eight in the evening.”

Parisians were not amused. Something tells me, however, that our Ben was. Charlotte Canelli, Library Director

Oh, the Places You'll See

Read Marie Lydon's entire column in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin this week.

Excerpt:

"I am reminded of all this because PBS has been promoting its series on the national parks beginning this fall. It should be stunning. Although I have not been to most of the parks, I love looking at the books and planning trips that we hope to take some day. In the meantime, we can all be armchair travelers with some of the following books at the library:
America’s National Parks: America’s Best Idea by Dayton Duncan is a beautiful and informative book published in conjunction with the PBS series.
Great Lodges of the National Parks by Christine Barnes, volumes 1 and 2, illustrate the ideas and industry of our predecessors in building these magnificent structures.
Fodor’s Official Guide to America’s National Parks gives a brief, state by state description of 391 parks.
Frommer’s National Parks with Kids by Kurt Repanshek highlights great family activities at 14 parks including Acadia and the Cape Cod National Seashore.
·“Haunted Hikes: Spine-Tingling Tales and Trails from North America’s National Parks” by Andrea Lankford, which unfortunately does not include any New England parks.
There are many more books about the national parks to consult if you are planning a trip. It is never too soon to start thinking about next summer. If we do not have a specific book in our library, you can request that it be delivered here. Marie Lydon, Reference Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library

Back to Business

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column in this week's Norwood Transcript.

Excerpt:

And so, in true librarian-mother form, I decided to make up a bibliography of must-read business books for my youngest daughter, already in an MBA program, and for the eldest who will begin next fall.

There were plenty of places to go online to gather information for this list. Some of the best online spots are Business Week Online, Personal MBA, Forbes, etc. However, as often is the case, I might have actually found a good answer right on our shelves. It’s “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You” by Jack Covert and Todd Satterson. Charlotte Canelli, Library Director

Twitter 19th Century Style

Read Shelby Warner's entire From the Library column in the Daily News Transcript.

Excerpt:

"Old newspapers are fun to browse. Read the front page of one and you’ll find “Twittering” is not just a present day phenomenon. The local news back then included reports of who went where and when, fell down their front steps or broke a bone, put in a cement sidewalk, painted their house the same color as their brother’s, bought a new team of horses, or seemed a little corpulent at their birthday party.

Twitter, indeed." Shelby Warner, Reference Librarian

Chilling Mysteries From the North

Read Margot Sullivan's article in the Daily News Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

Last but not least I love the Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason, whose atmospheric, involved mysteries take place in Reykjavik and feature police inspector Erlendur.

“Silence of the Grave” is absolutely haunting. A young female skeleton is found at a building construction site and is finally determined to be around 50 years old, putting her death back around World War II. Strands of stories and long forgotten family secrets of abuse in the Icelandic countryside make for a riveting mystery.

Should I see a therapist? Nope. Reading is therapy no matter what one reads. Books, and tapes and CD’s are all free for loan from the library. Therapists cost money. I’ll stick with my library. Margot Sullivan, Retired Adult Services Librarian

Investment In the Future

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire article in the Daily News Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

When we prepared to return to the States and I was packing up our household 25 years ago, one of my last tasks was to truck the coins to a local Irish bank. I chose the EBS or Educational Building Society and deposited the heavy packets of coin into an account for my daughter who was only five months old. I had fantasies that the 50 plus Irish punts (or Irish “pounds” worth about $99 at the time) would grow and be somewhat meaningful to her one day.

She had a “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow” or so we told her over the years. We added gift amounts to the fund a few times early on and that money accrued interest for the last quarter of a century when we basically forgot about it in the last two decades. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Self-Help Is Just Around the Corner

Read April Cushing's complete hilarious column in this week's Daily News Transcript.

Excerpt:

It all started with the car window that wouldn’t close. My kids make fun of my minivan, which I’ve defended to the last dent. Until, that is, I tried to raise the passenger window on a recent Monday morning and it wouldn’t budge.

I enjoy a gale-force breeze as much as the next passenger, but halfway home from a weekend on the Cape I’m burrowing into my hoodie ready to join my canine companion in the back seat when I glance over my shoulder and, uh oh, no Duffy. As I said, I blame it on the window. Since I’m due at the Morrill Memorial Library reference desk at 9 a.m. there’s no time to turn around.

But being the resourceful librarian I am, I immediately call my neighbor Story Fish—his real name, and yes, he’s a fisherman—who rescued the pup waiting patiently at my back door. Story was chuckling but I was horrified. I mean, I’ve left my kids behind before, sure, but never my dog. April Cushing, Adult Services Librarian

What I Read On My Summer Vacation

Read Kelly Unsworth's entire library column in the Daily News Transcript.

Excerpt:

Some 30 years later, my daughter experienced her own version of the “Giant Peach” vacation when we happened upon a small, stone building that houses the Shelburne Free Public Library in Shelburne, Mass. We were fortunate to be passing by while the library was open, as it is only open for three hours every other day. The building had seen no renovations, and consequently had the smell and feel of a cozy one-room schoolhouse. What it lacked in modernity, however, it made up for with charm and a surprisingly good selection of books overflowing the wooden shelves. Kelly Unsworth, Children's Librarian

For Reading Out Loud!

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column in the Daily News Transcript this week.

Excerpt:

Reading aloud has become somewhat of a lost art in our culture and in the 21st Century. Before television and radio, and mercy me! computers, families spent valuable time reading to each other. And not just to children. Rhythms and language, descriptions and visions were shared with utmost attention to the written word by entire families of all ages. The Read Aloud America and United Through Reading groups are two of the non-profit organizations encouraging a rebirth of a read-aloud generation.

Most experts agree that reading to children is the single most important factor in later reading success.

As adults, we know the importance of reading to our children. We stop – or our children stop us – at some point in the chain. We rarely read to them after a certain age and certainly not to each other. While the electronic audio books serve its purpose well, listening to audio books in any format is a solitary activity. Too much of our present-day e-World is convenient but lonely as it lacks the connectness and comfort we find in the shared experience of listening and reading to each other. There is something lost in the translation – the attention we must pay to read and to listen. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Tweet, Tweeting, Tweeted

Read my entire article this week in the Daily News Transcript.

Excerpt:

Twitter’s claim on its homepage is that you can “share and discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.” My problem with Twitter is that the world is a very big place. I can’t possibly keep up with all my email, my Google Reader aggregator and my online feeds, my Facebook family and friends. How can I possible discover and share with the rest of the world in constant 140-character Tweets? Why do I have to know these things?
Recent studies of this phenomenon called Twitter have found that millions of others haven’t caught on either. Recent studies (on the Internet and in print media) claim that Tweeters flock to the site and then never return. Around 60 percent of those who register are just not staying around to “get it.” Some predictions claim that only 10 percent of all Internet users are really using Twitter. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

It's All In the Delivery

Read the entire article this week in the Daily News Transcript.

Excerpt:

It’s a bird … it’s a plane … No! It’s a book! And it’s on its way to your library.
Most Morrill Memorial Library users know that they can request a book (or an audio book, a music CD, a DVD, or a video) from another library within our Minuteman Library Network. Most know that it arrives at the speed of…well, a book. Have you ever marveled at how this system works so well and so fast? Do you wonder how we work this magic? From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Weekday, a.m. Library has not opened yet. Come in and walk up the stairs and turn on the Waiting List computer. Check to be sure Print Station is up.

Uh-oh, strange message. That’s because the power went off last night during the thunder and lightning storm. Go to the Reference Desk, drop off books, papers, reviews taken home, turn on Reference Desk computer, and then turn on the reference computer in the office and check to be sure the printer is turned on. Beth Goldman, Reference, Outreach and Technology Library

Read the entire article by Beth Goldman, Outreach and Reference Librarian, in the Daily News Transcript.

Food for Thought

When my book club met at the end of the summer, 2008, we courageously decided to tackle fresh mozzarella cheese. Call me a skeptic once again but I never imagined that a cheese made at home, in an ordinary kitchen, could be palatable, let alone absolutely delicious. I was amazed when my group of wine-sipping book ladies frothed up a delicious, fresh hunk of mozzarella in the time it took us to make a quick dinner.
Excited, I deigned to make my own cheese weekly. You guessed right - that never happened because I am, after all, not living the good life in the Virginia mountains that Kingsolver did. I’m not forced to invent my dinner each night but instead come home only to serve it.
Yet, I appreciate the effort and seek out those homemade, local creations to add to my family table. Perhaps that is what Kingsolver hoped we all would do - food for thought. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read my entire article in the Daily News Transcript this week.

A Traveler's Tale

We might have heeded the weather report and waited until morning. We might have turned around before we hit torrential downpours just 20 miles northeast. Yet, we were hearty, hardy, and determined travelers and we left on our three-hour trip mid afternoon on the 1st of July.

Even in my vacation reverie, snatched from car ride slumber, I knew that Gerry’s words “We’ve lost it” were extremely bad news. The not-quite-locked-down Space Cadet, buffeted by wind and rain, had finally rebelled against her load. Her lid had burst upward and she had carelessly spilled her guts onto the slick, wet, and crowded highway at the worst time of the day: the evening commute.

We braved a nerve-jangling stop in the breakdown lane and then forlornly watched our brave driver – husband and grandfather – retreat backwards and disappear around the curve and to seek out what remained of our rooftop load. The three of us helplessly left behind held our breaths as large UPS and Wal-Mart trucks whipped by at breakneck speeds. Our hearts sank as we imagined shreds of sleeping bags, tents, and towels pummeled into the tarmac of the busy highway. We anticipated turning toward home, sheepishly admitting defeat after the very best of attitudes and intentions. Worst of all, of course, we realized our champion was braving the speeding lanes of vehicles. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

You can read my entire article in the Daily News Transcript this week. Happy travels!

Databases At Your Fingertips

If you are interested in learning a foreign language, just scroll down the alphabetical list to Mango Languages and voila, you are there! We just added this to our database collection but this program has been very popular with patrons at other libraries and we expect you will love it. If offers 12 languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Greek, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, ESL Polish (English for Polish Speakers), ESL Spanish (English for Spanish Speakers), and ESL Brazilian Portuguese (English for Brazilian Portuguese Speakers). Marie Lydon, Reference Librarian

Read Marie Lydon's entire article in the Daily News Transcript this week.

The Sane in Maine

Whenever I go over the Piscataquis Bridge from New Hampshire to Maine everyone in the car with me must open their windows and let the “clean Maine air” fill the car no matter what time of the year. Then I wave my arms out the window and yell, “Yippee, I am in Maine!”

I always wonder what the people think in the cars behind us. My family smiles and humors me. Now I have my library friends doing the same thing!

I love Maine. Most of you head to Cape Cod and, yes, it is a shorter drive, it is nice off season, and the water is warmer, but the rocky coast of Maine is beautiful; and there are a multitude of unexplored places to enjoy down many of the peninsulas. Margot Sullivan, Reference Librarian

Read Margot Sullivan's entire article this week in the Daily News Transcript.

It's All In a Name

Near the turn of the 20th Century, and on the eve of the first Centennial of the library building, the Committee of One Hundred Names was formed in time for the celebration. The mission of this committee of seven was to find eleven more names. What a daunting task! A century of writers had been born since the building had been built. Some of the original names were hidden or lost during the ensuing years and the two additions. The committee noted that only four women’s names now graced the building and that most of the authors carved on its walls were writers for adults.
For three months the public was asked to nominate. Names came from elementary schools, from library users, and from the general public and 144 names were received. The file of nominations is several inches thick and includes testimony and heartfelt letters from an enthusiastic public. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read my entire article this week in the Daily News Transcript.

Frankly, My Dear

Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to remember back half a day let alone nearly a half-century. After our visit to the Margaret Mitchell House last Saturday we rented the 226-minute epic movie in all its glorious color. Watching it brought back memories of Kleenex-fisted hours mourning Scarlett’s mother, father, and daughter and the epic and historically conjured scenes of Atlanta and Civil War.
Viewing it again after many years I realized that I’d somehow forgotten some of the details of the book and the momentous movie. I did remember, however, exactly where I’d shelved the book at home and wondered if I will pick it up now that I know where Margaret Mitchell sat in her apartment and where she placed the many editions of the varying manuscripts. Frankly, my dear reader, I just might. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read my entire article this week in the Daily News Transcript.

Summertime and the Reading Should Be Easy

My eldest daughter spent her whole summers reading from first grade on. What always amazed me was the fact that she brought many of her elementary favorites along with her everywhere we traveled even into high school. Roald Dahl’s “BFG” (or known as Big Friendly Giant) hung on among her summer reading collection that included Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park” and Stephen King’s “Carrie.” I must admit my raised eyebrows annoyed her but she, as usual, knew what she was doing. Today she is an educational consultant, and not surprisingly, an extremely prolific reader who actually reads while she is walking to her ride on the T in Boston.

She learned the best lesson there is: that reading could be easy and fun, especially in the good old summertime. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read my entire article this week in the Daily News Transcript.

Travel Adventures With April

I couldn’t have planned a trip to Paris without going to the library first. Since I work there, admittedly all it took was a detour to the 914s on the Morrill Memorial Library’s second floor and I was good to go. I’m a travel book junkie. For me, half the fun of going anywhere is to read about it first, then point to the passage in the guidebook and say (to myself), “I’ve been there,” or “I did that,” even if it wasn’t all that great.

I’ve never set foot in Seattle or Siena but I’ve been to the City of Light three times. Three of my four daughters have spent at least a semester there, and three times I’ve crammed my carry-on with travel guides from Fodor, Frommer, and Rick Steves. April Cushing, Adult Services Librarian

Read the entire article by April Cushing, Adult Services Library at the Morrill Memorial Librarian, in the Daily News Transcript.

It's Historical

It is our nature as humans to identify with the brick and mortar, the clapboard and granite of our lives. Many of us leave memories behind in the houses we leave as we move on in life. Yet, we expect that our places of worship, education, recreation, and culture will be there when we return to them. This must be especially so in Norwood, a town of deep familial and community roots. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read the entire article in the Daily News Transcript.

Reading With the Lunch Crowd

Working with children is always one of the best jobs around and my years as youth services librarian in the Peterborough, N.H., community left me with some of the very best memories. My “customers” there were the area’s children between the ages of a few days to 18 years. I’ll never forget the delight and pride in the eyes of singing toddlers, reading kindergartners, after-school visitors, and graduating seniors.

A Chinese philosopher has been credited with saying, “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Confucius certainly got that right and librarians are here to prove it. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read the entire article in the Daily News Transcript.

Global Distress

"My wanderings having ceased, my children having grown, the Sunday Globe is more than just an informing, leisurely weekend read; it is a sign of my permanence in the area. It’s a time I relish – those easy, thoughtful morning hours I spend decorating the carpet with newsprint and ads. I have lovingly made reading the Globe’s Ideas section and the Globe Magazine my ritual on the weekends." From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read the entire From the Library column in the Daily News Transcript and Norwood Bulletin.

Literacy Librarians Make a Difference

In the more than 25 years since the program began, the lives of more than 1,000 people have been enriched. They include immigrant families who learned English and started their own businesses, a learning disabled electrician who needed to pass a test to become licensed, a foreign born quadriplegic whose dream was to attend college, a retired public employee who was in an accident and never learned to read due to a brain injury, and a young girl who achieved her GED after dropping out of school to take care of her ill parents. Tina Blood, Literacy Librarian

Read the entire column: From the Library: Literacy volunteers make a difference - Norwood, MA - Norwood Bulletin

Nothin' But a Voice and a Microphone

Miss Marion. “Lida Rose.” Think “Music Man,” the wonderful 1957 Broadway play and 1962 smash movie. Who could forget Miss Marion, River City’s lovely “Madame Librarian.” Or “Lida Rose,” the song sung by four cranky, argumentative school board members who made up a perfect barbershop quartet. Four handlebar moustaches, four straw hats, four voices and a simple way to bring four points of view together. Ah, harmony. And so what’s all this got to do with the Morrill Memorial Library? Read on. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read the entire From the Library column in the Daily News Transcript.

Between the Covers

One of my all time favorite books, one of the very few I have read twice, going on three times, is Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings.” I remember very clearly a co-worker of mine at the Boston Public Library was reading “The Two Towers.” I picked it up and started it and he said, “Oh you must start with the first volume, ‘The Fellowship of the Ring.” Ace had released an unauthorized version in the United States. The covers in order were red, yellow, and blue with illustrations of the characters. I should have kept those unauthorized editions as they are now scarce and worth money. Margot Sullivan, Reference Librarian

Read the entire article in the From the Library column in the Daily News Transcript.

Are You Kidding Me?

A few weeks back I confessed in this column that I am not a technological geek. This week I have yet another personal confession: I am not a sportswoman. Oh, yes, I did climb Mount Washington under extreme duress many years ago, I spent countless summers camping with my family, and I watched them ice skate, race, swim and ski, joining in until I was outclassed. I cheer my adult triathlete daughter on along with the best of parents.

I often get caught up in the World Series Mania in the fall and Superbowl Fever in January. But, yes, I sometimes have to ask dumb questions as I watch. I am, therefore, sadly never to be confused with a true sports fanatic.

So, you might ask, “Are you kidding me? Why is this librarian purchasing the sports books in the library?’”

And I will answer, “It’s a fun job and somebody has to do it.” This spring is especially enjoyable as a plethora of books hit the market and our library shelves and I get to order them. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

A few weeks back I confessed in this column that I am not a technological geek. This week I have yet another personal confession:  I am not a sportswoman.  Oh, yes, I did climb Mount Washington under extreme duress many years ago, I spent countless summers camping with my family, and I watched them ice skate, race, swim and ski, joining in until I was outclassed.  I cheer my adult triathlete daughter on along with the best of parents.  I often get caught up in the World Series Mania in the fall and Superbowl Fever in January.  But, yes, I sometimes have to ask dumb questions as I watch.  I am, therefore, sadly never to be confused with a true sports fanatic.

So, you might ask, “Are you kidding me? Why is this librarian purchasing the sports books in the library?’ 

And I will answer, ‘It’s a fun job and somebody has to do it.’ This spring is especially enjoyable as a plethora of books hit the market and our library shelves and I get to order them.

I do admit, I recently become a pro golf spectator and for a few practical reasons … the main one being that in 2007 I married a longtime golfer and avid tournament watcher.  I was an “I can’t watch!” witness to that dramatic showdown at Torrey Pines last June  between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate, glued the television that Father’s Day weekend. I watched the next day’s play – for a total of 91 count’em holes – on my computer laptop and bit my nails along with the best of you, peaking through my fingers at Tiger’s last nervewracking putt in sudden death. So when I read that Are You Kidding Me?: The Story of Rocco Mediate's Extraordinary Battle with Tiger Woods at the US Open would be published this May, I smiled in nostalgic remembrance of that unexpected and unbelievably dramatic fight on the greens in San Diego. 

More golfing books about this spring.  Roland Merullo, local author of bestsellers Golfing With God and Breakfast With Buddha, publishes a new travel memoir on April 28.  The Italian Summer: Golf, Food, and Family at Lake Como has been described as “connecting all those who love Italy, wine, food, family outings, and golf” and Merullo will certainly enchant his audience. What better combination for the Italian golfer (think Canelli) that I know especially well. 

D. J. Gregory, born with cerebral palsy, learned to live passionately loving golf.  In Walking with Friends: An Inspirational Year on the PGA Tour, published this May, DJ will recount ‘a sports fantasy unlike any other’ as he traveled from Maui to Disneyworld and walked every course with the professional golfers.  This is a story of a feat, a fantasy and a fellowship with pros, with life and with golf.   

The range of books published this spring cover wrestling to falconry, car racing to cycling and basketball to mountain climbing.  Red and Me: My Coach, My Lifelong Friend by Bill Russell will be published on May 5^th.  Yes, it’s a basketball story, but it is also a memoir of a friendship of two men, Bill Russell and Red Auerback, and a story for all of us.  Halfway to Heaven: My White-knuckled--and Knuckleheaded--Quest for the Rocky Mountain High by Mark Obmascik will thrill anyone challenged by the near impossible.  Obmascik takes on the near-crazy quest of climbing all 54 of Colorado’s Fourteeners – those incredible peaks over 14,000 feet. Out-of-shape and perhaps out-of-his mind, the author of the 2005 book, The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession, proves that commitment is often what it takes to journey a thousand steps or in this case, fifty-four peaks.

But it’s baseball that comes to us at a fever pitch this spring.  Bruce Weber’s As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires, Bill Reynold’s '78: The Boston Red Sox, A Historic Game, and a Divided City  and Jean Rhodes’ Becoming Manny: Inside the Life of Baseball's Most Enigmatic Slugger  were all published last month in March. Peter Golenbeck’s  George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire hits the shelves April 13.  Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself by Michael Shapiro will be published May 12.  Miracle Ball : My Hunt for the Shot Heard 'round the World  by Brian Beigel, published May 12, may read somewhat like a novel but it is a work of non-fiction.  It is the story of a father and son and a trip across the country proving the authenticity of a baseball found in a thrift shop. 

This non-sportwoman/librarian wants you to know that we have all the books you want to read about sports.  You can stop in, email or call to suggest a book for our sports collection any time  - 781-769-0200.  Be sure to call the library to sign up for all your reading needs. 

Library Expands Its Offerings

Growing up, one of my favorite memories was waiting for the evening newspaper to arrive at the door, especially when I was supposed to be practicing piano. The first thing we did in our house after we got ready for school was to read the morning newspaper, as we were lucky enough to have two papers. In college, one of my favorite things to do, when I was supposedly at the library studying, was to read the local Chicago newspapers and take little “study breaks” in the stacks to read old bound copies of “Life,” “Look,” “Time,” and “Newsweek.” Today, we would say that I needed to get a life. Marie Lydon, Reference Librarian

Read the entire From the Library column in the Daily News Transcript.

Animal, Vegetable ... Kindle?

A Kindle? If you haven’t heard, the Kindle is Amazon.com’s very popular e-reader or electronic book. There are many amazing things about the Kindle – the lightweight design, the easy-to-read text, the text-to-speech capability, and wireless capability to download books in seconds, anytime and anywhere. I was recently at a friend’s mountain ski house where to get cell service we need to stand very close to a window on the second floor leaning over a balcony (you’ve got the “Can you hear me now” picture?). Yet, I downloaded a Kindle book sitting at a kitchen chair using Amazon’s Whispernet wireless. In just seconds. (The Kindle version of most books costs between $8 and $12 and is delivered free from Amazon.com’s Web site.) From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read the entire From the Library column in the Daily News Transcript. Read or listen to some other opinions about the Kindle: How the Kindle Changed the World at Salon.com, A Kind Society Can Be Literate at NPR, Kindle e-Reader, A Trojan Horse For Free Thought in the Christian Science Monitor.

What's All the Fuss About Blogs?

What is a blog, anyway? Why read them, why write them. In short, why care?

Online definitions of the word “blog” differ. Marketingterms.com defines a blog simply as “a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links.” Another online definition defines a blog as a “personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption.” Well, consume we do. Blogs can be found on all newspaper and magazine Web sites, conference and political Web sites; there are millions of them and they are everywhere and can be used for all types of purposes. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read the entire article in the From the Library column in the Daily News Transcript.

The School Project: It's a Family Thing

Last Thursday night my husband and I attended an amazing program at the elementary school in our hometown of Norfolk. The event was the annual Wax Museum and included the exhibits of over 150 fifth-graders as famous personalities. That night I met Amelia Earhart, Charles Schultz, Ben Franklin, Christa McAuliffe, Theodore Geisel, Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Jackie Bouvier Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson and many others, including our own grandson, Colin, as Norman Rockwell. I don’t know if I was the most impressed adult in the crowd but I was certainly awed by the creativity and brilliance of these confident 10-year olds. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read the entire From the Library column in the Daily News Transcript.

Reading About Reading

When I leave the library each day I try not to look around me. What I mean is that working as a librarian has its shortcomings. I often use the analogy of working in a candy story while having to watch sugar intake. I often overload my bedside table with books that I’ve read about, hear about or watched come and go from our busy library. It’s a tough job and someone has to do it … but it can be pretty frustrating when you’re a busy person with little time to read. From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Read the entire From the Library column in the Daily News Transcript.

Books and Librarians Onscreen

I was thrilled to see Kate Winslet accept the award for best actress in “The Reader”, a film adapted from the book of the same name by Bernard Schlink. It was written in 1995 (translated into English in 1997) and has been widely read around the world in the past decade. The story is fiction and is not just a Holocaust story. One of the prevailing themes is illiteracy, of course a topic near and dear to a librarian’s heart. A favorite and touching scene for me was when Kate Winslet’s mid-life adult character enters the library and checks out her very first library book. The shame of both illiteracy and of a generation too-far removed from the atrocities of the Holocaust are woven throughout the story of both the movie and the book.
There are several databases (on library websites) from which you can search the literary beginnings of the majority of movies. “Based on the Book”, a website compilation by Mid-Continent Public Library system in Missouri, is one of them and it is searchable in four ways: by the movie title, the film release date, the book title and the book author. Are you curious about which of Charles Dickens’, John Grisham’s or Philip Roth’s books have become movies? Did you know there were more than eighteen that hit the theaters in 2008, among them “Horton Hears a Who” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”? The latter was based upon a short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. You might be very surprised how many movies had their beginnings in literature. One surprise book-to-movie connection is “Slumdog Millionaire” based on the 2005 book, Q &A, written by Vikas Swarup. Another 2008 award nominee was “Revolutionary Road” based on the book written by Massachusetts writer Richard Yates in the 1960’s. Even “Hellboy” and “The Watchman began as books” – graphic novels. The hit movies “Coraline” and “Twilight” began as books for young adults. Other websites list the movies that will come out in 2009, including My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Piccoult and Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.
Now getting back to Kate Winslet and her library book, I must tell you that cringed when I witnessed her circling words with pencil … in her library book. Perhaps her librarian forgave her – the audience did I’m sure but I hid my gasp in my fist in the theater. Librarians are portrayed very interestingly on film and run the gamut of stereotypes. From Parker Posey’s nonsensical “Party Girl” to Marian in “The Music Man”, librarians are portrayed as sweet as River City Pie to maniacal shrews. Yet who can forget James Whitmore’s portrayal as a bright and caring librarian, albeit a prisoner himself, in “Shawshank Redemption.” Of the devoted Donna Reed in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” There are several websites devoted to librarians on film – The Film Librarian, Librarians in the Movies and Movie Librarians. There is even a movie devoted to our brand – Hollywood Librarian, a full-length documentary including many, many film clips and published in 2007. It was presented in special screenings in … libraries. Seemingly, only librarians themselves are interested in this type of study as we try to figure out just why the public bestows us with their knowing smiles … or extends their shaky hands.
Perhaps the some of the best quotes we can find about libraries and librarians as portrayed in film are from “IQ” (1994):
“I always imagined heaven to be one enormous library, only you can't take out the books”. Or from “Doctor Who” (2005):

"You want weapons? We're in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world! This room's the greatest arsenal we could have - arm yourselves!”

From the Daily News Transcript, From the Library, Charlotte Canelli, columnist

Please call the library (781-769-0200) or visit our website (www.norwoodlibrary.org) to see if we have your favorite book or movie.