10 Books We’re Looking Forward to in July

July 15, 2015July 6, 2015 / cheshirelib / Leave a comment

Beat the heat! Find yourself some air conditioning (or a spot at the beach) and settle in with one of the new books hitting our shelves in July. Romance, thrills, good eats – the perfect summertime reading!

Every month, librarians from around the country pick the top ten new books they’d most like to share with readers. The results are published on LibraryReads.org. One of the goals of LibraryReads is to highlight the important role public libraries play in building buzz for new books and new authors. Click through to read more about what new and upcoming books librarians consider buzzworthy this month. The top ten titles for July are:

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
Kiss Me by Susan Mallery
Second Chance Summer by Jill Shalvis
Speaking in Bones by Kathy Reichs
Those Girls by Chevy Stevens
Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans
Love Lies Beneath by Ellen Hopkins
Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/day by Leanne Brown

National Nude Day – July 14, 2015

July 13, 2015June 19, 2015 / Linda / Leave a comment

While doing some research for future blog posts, I came across National Nude Day. Now, I know what some of you are thinking, but I immediately thought about……. Art. The human body has always been a fascinating subject for artists. A recent example was featured on CBS This Morning here. The Cheshire Library has a wonderful collection of books, DVDs, and magazines on a variety of art subjects, including some of the world’s best known artists famous for their nudes.

A Few Famous Artists

Michelangelo: a life in six masterpieces

Francisco de Goya

Vincent Van Gogh: life and work

The Unknown Matisse

A Life of Picasso

Magazines

American Art Review Magazine

Art In America Magazine

DVDs

Drawing the line: a portrait of Keith Haring

Getting Started With Bob Ross

Vincent Van Gogh: A Stroke of Genius

Vincent – A Dutchman

Andy Warhol

A Model for Matisse

The Great Masters of the Italian Renaissance

Alex Katz: Five Hours

Books – Adult

Lives of the Great 20th Century Artists

How to Paint Abstracts

Art: over 2,500 works from cave to contemporary

Art: a new history

The Collins Big Book of Art: from cave art to pop art

Introduction to Drawing the Human Body

Books – Children

A History of Art for Young People

Paul Cezanne

100 Artists Who Changed the World

History of Art for Young People

The Children’s Librarians and Reference Librarians will be happy to guide you in finding the perfect title for you.

Now – for those interested in the actual National Nude Day -” National Nude Day is a way to keep cool on a hot , sticky summer day. Nudist groups around the world celebrate this holiday and take it quite seriously! Nudist’s are not perverts…even though their desire to go “au natural” might be offensive to the conservative population! Nudist’s are individuals who believe the human body is most beautiful in their natural state. Whether or not you agree with them, nudist’s encourage people to strut their stuff. ” (source: National Day Calendar) And, yes, there are a few ‘clothing optional’ resorts in Connecticut.

July 13 is Barbershop Music Appreciation Day

July 10, 2015June 19, 2015 / Louise / 1 Comment

Once in a while, the librarians at CPL get a special treat, we get serenaded! My husband belongs to the Barbershop Harmony Society, and on special occasions like Valentines Day, his Barbershop Quartet will often stop by the library and sing.

Barbershop music is a uniquely American art form. While its songs can seem old fashioned and simplistic, the arrangements are actually quite technical and precise. While all Barbershop music is A Capella music, not all A Capella music is Barbershop music.

The defining characteristic of the barbershop style is the “ringing chord”. This is an acoustic effect achieved by blending specific notes. In Barbershop harmony, four singers combine their voices in such a way as to produce a “fifth voice”. This is also sometimes referred to as “expanded sound”.

How did the Barbershop style come about? In the late 19th century, barbershops often served as gathering places for men. What we now think of as barbershop quartets actually started with African American men socializing in barbershops; they would harmonize while waiting their turn, vocalizing all different types of songs. Later on, white minstrel singers adopted this new style of unaccompanied, four-part, close-harmony singing. It became quite popular, and in the early days of the recording industry their performances were recorded and sold.

There is now an organization devoted to preserving this truly American art form. The Barbershop Harmony Society (otherwise known as Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America), has hundreds chapters all over the US, encouraging most anyone with the desire to learn to sing Barbershop. In Connecticut alone there are 9 chapters: Danbury, Enfield, Hartford, Manchester, Meriden, New Haven, New London, Norwich, and Waterbury/Derby. Check out the Barbershop Harmony website if you are interested in learning more about Barbershop music.

Torchwood Comes to CPL

July 8, 2015June 19, 2015 / Susan O. / 4 Comments

Back in 1987, when I started watching a strange little British science-fiction children’s TV show called Dr. Who, it was barely known in the U.S. I actually had to pull it in from Canada, which meant a tipsy Rube Goldberg contraption of raising my TV up high, attaching tinfoil to the antenna, wires to the tin foil, a coat hanger, and all this thrown out the third-story window, because my dorm room was on the opposite side from all the TV signals. Merchandising was rare, usually imported, and extremely expensive.

Fast forward to 2005. After several years of spotty specials, Dr. Who is brought back to life with actor Christopher Eccleston in the lead role (you might know him from Gone in 60 Seconds, or Thor: The Dark World). This time the BBC has actually put money into it, and it is by far some of the best produced, best-written television out there. Period. And among the recurring companions was the role of Captain Jack Harkness, a mysterious immortal figure from the future, played by actor John Barrowman. Jack Harkness was such a strong character the BBC gave Jack Harkness his own spin-off in 2006, Torchwood (which, by the way, is an anagram for Doctor Who). In American, think X-Files.

The Torchwood Institute is set up as a present-day agency hunting present-day aliens that threaten (mostly) London and Wales. It is based in Cardiff, Wales, and headed by Captain Jack Harkness, a former Time Agent who operates above the law, with powerful technology at his hands. When police officer Gwen Cooper (Eve Miles) stumbles onto the secret lair of Torchwood, she won’t stop investigating, until finally Harkness allows her to join them. It takes Gwen quite a bit to get used to everything going on around her, sworn to secrecy, which puts her at odds with her fiance Rhys, who thinks she’s going batty. She’s never quite sure if Jack is on the side of Earth or not, and it takes her a long time to trust him (partly because at the beginning he keeps trying to slip her drugs to make her forget). Sometimes Jack does seem to have an evil side, but really he’s more of a devout neutral, weighing the balance of what’s right and what’s wrong in each situation. Sometimes you love him, and, after the Children of Earth storyline, you understand his reasoning but you truly want to hate him.

Torchwood is NOT a children’s show, and was never meant to be. It was meant as an adult show. It is at times tough and gritty, and it deals with some very adult themes and morals, including nudity and violence, besides some episodes being as creepy as the best horror films. Although Jack Harkness would make guest appearances on Dr. Who, Dr. Who never appears in Torchwood (beyond the sound of his ship in the background for one episode), specifically to emphasize that they did not want children crossing over to the other show.

I urge you to give the series a try. It is unlike anything on American TV. Especially check out the episodes Countrycide, Captain Jack Harkness, and Dead Man Walking. If you have a high tolerance for anger and horror, watch the Children of Earth storyline.

Torchwood is a wonderful series, less science-fiction than horror, with a lot of drama thrown in. I’ve met both Eve Miles and John Barrowman; they are a delight in person and their on-screen charisma is authentic. Barrowman, a die-hard joker and pain in the neck, had no problem with the nudity on the show, and often used it to shock his castmates; if they look horrified on screen, it just might be an authentic look from something Barrowman had done just as the cameras started to roll. Barrowman is well-known in England, a decent singer of his own with several albums, and was one of the judges of the British version of America’s Got Talent. He can currently be seen on Arrow. Burn Gorman (Owen) has also become a familiar face, in everything from The Dark Knight Rises to Game of Thrones, Pacific Rim, Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, to a current run on the AMC series Turn: Washington’s Spies.

CPL has the entire run of Torchwood on both DVD and Blu-ray. Check it out, and its wonderful cast of talented stars!

Oprah’s Summer Reading – 2015

July 6, 2015June 25, 2015 / Linda / 2 Comments

O, The Oprah Magazine has listed their favorite books for the upcoming summer season. Below is the short version. You can see the full list in the July 2015 issue of the magazine.

Ladies on the move

Paris, He Said – Christine Sneed – Aspiring painter Jayne is questioning the choices she has made in the years since college and is struggling to pay her bills in Manhattan when she is given the opportunity to move to Paris with her wealthy lover and benefactor, Laurent Moller, who owns and operates two art galleries.

The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay – Andrea Gillies – Seeking refuge on a tiny Greek island after an estrangement from two brothers with whom she was in a long-time love triangle, Nina discovers in the wake of an accident the influence of her parents’ marriage on her own.

Re Jane – Patricia Park – Jane Re, a half-Korean, half-American orphan, escapes to Seoul where she reconnects with her family while struggling to learn the ways of modern-day Korea, and wonders if the man she loves is really the man for her as she tries to find balance between two cultures and accept who she really is.

Mysteries and Thrillers

The Ice Twins – S.K. Tremayne – Moving to a tiny Scottish island a year after one of their identical twin daughters, Lydia, dies in an accident, Angus and Sarah are shattered when their surviving daughter claims they have mistaken her identity and that she is actually the twin they believed dead.

Hyacinth Girls – Lauren Frankel – When her 13-year-old daughter Callie begins receiving suicidal notes from Robyn, the girl she supposedly bullied, Rebecca is determined to save the unbalanced Robyn, refusing to let the school stand in her way, but in doing so, unknowingly places her own daughter’s life in great danger.

Jack of Spades – Joyce Carol Oates – Enjoying his successful career and devoted family, a best-selling writer secretly authors a masochist-themed series that threatens his respectable community standing and becomes subject to a plagiarism lawsuit.

Biography and Memoir

The Pawnbroker’s Daughter – Maxine Kumin – A new collection of work from the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet depicts her childhood during the Depression in Philadelphia, her education at Radcliffe College, her rural New England farm and the changing tone and subject matter of her poetry over her lifetime.

My Generation – William Styron – collection of work spanning the career of the author includes complex pieces on race as well as extracts describing his daily walks with his beloved dog.

Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County – Kristen Green – A reporter, combining hard-hitting investigative journalism with a sweeping family narrative, exposes a little-known chapter of American History, revealing her hometown’s shameful legacy of refusing to integrate after the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education.

Literary Fiction

Our Souls at Night – Kent Haruf – A senior-aged widow and widower forge a loving bond over shared loneliness and respective histories, provoking local gossip and the disapproval of their grown children in ways that are further complicated by an extended visit by a sad young grandchild.

Death and Mr. Pickwick – Stephen Jarvis – A novel based on the life of artist Robert Seymour describes the birth of “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club,” a series of whimsical sketches by Seymour that were paired with stories by a young Charles Dickens, using the pen name Boz.

The Sunlit Night – Rebecca Dinerstein – In the barren landscape of the Far North, under the ever-present midnight sun, Frances, who lives in an isolated artist colony, and Yasha, who arrives from Brooklyn to fulfill his beloved father’s last wish, form a bond that offers them solace amidst great uncertainty.