Library Corner…

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to come home at the end of the day and find your dinner all ready and waiting? Get your crockpot out of the cupboard and check out “Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook” by Beth Hensperger. The recipes are easy and the results are fantastic.It’s not too soon to think about sprucing up your home for spring. Don Vandervort’s “Curb Appeal”will show you some creative ways to make your house the most desirable on the block. The cost is minimal and the main ingredient is TLC. If you live with a picky eater you will love “I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato” by Lauren Child. With a little imagination even the most resistant child
can be persuaded to give new foods a try. Beaded jewelry is eye-catching, unusual, and not all that difficult to make. Susan Ray’s “Easy Beaded Jewelry” presents 75 wonderful designs that will appeal to novice as well as experienced crafters. These projects can be finished in one day or less and the results are spectacular. “Lighthouses of Ireland” by Kevin M. McCarthy is for anyone Irish or any lighthouse aficionado. Lots of interesting historical maritime facts and great photos make this a truly interesting read. The groundhog says we’ll have 6 more weeks of winter, but the melting snow and warmer temperatures hint of improving weather ahead. What better time than now to plan your family vacation? The library’s travel section is a great resource for destinations near and far. Why not get the whole family involved and research different places you may want to visit? Our helpful staff will be glad to steer you in the right direction.

Alessandra’s Book Bites:
Paul Zollo’s “Hollywood Remembered: an Oral History of Its Golden Age” is an entertaining collection of thirty-seven reminiscences of the “glory days” by actors,
directors, cinematographers, agents, studio executives, and screenwriters. Did you enjoy watching, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers, Secret Agent and The Saint then you will enjoy Wesley Britton’s book “Spy Television.” Frederick Taylor’s “Dresden: Tuesday, February 13, 1945” is a provocative reexamination of the bombing of Dresden. Keeping with the WWII theme, you may also want to read Larry King’s poignant and inspiring new book “Love Stories of World War II.” This is a moving account of men and women who met during the chaos of World War II and became the “loves of one another’s lives.” World War I history buffs will not want to
miss Joseph W. Persico’s “11th Month 11th Day 11TH Hour: Armistice Day, 1918 World War I and Its Violent Climax.” Persico follows the lives of ordinary soldiers as well as more well known soldiers, such as, Corporal Adolf Hitler, Captain Harry Truman and Colonels Douglas MacArthur and George Patton. Scott Zesch’s “The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier” searches for the facts surrounding the true experiences of several Texas Hill Country children who were kidnapped by Indians in the 1800s. If you want a break from politics
and war, Marlena de Blasi’s “A Thousand Days in Tuscany” is a delightful memoir chronicling the author’s move to a small Tuscan town. The book is filled with “the daily rituals of timeless village life—as well as de Basi’s own luscious recipes.” In “The Death Penalty on Trial”, Bill Kurtis, anchor for the true crime TV series Cold Case Files and American Justice, tells us why he thinks capital punishment is wrong by investigating the evidence surrounding two murder cases. Does corporate intrigue interest you? Eric M. Jackson’s “The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the
Media, The Mafia, and the Rest of the Planet Earth” is a fascinating tale about a rag-tag group of entrepreneurs who set out to change the world.

Librarian’s Pick of the Week:
“The Great Indoors” by Sabine Durrant. I have not had the pleasure of reading Durant’s previous book, “Having It & Eating It,” so I was more than pleasantly surprised by this apparently simple but richly detailed telling of a family in what are actually everyday crises. Martha Bone, the middle child (38 years old) has a satisfactory and happy life running her antiques and collectibles shop with the help of a young assistant, until her step-father dies unexpectedly and sets off not so much a chain of events, but a continuance of family differences that originated in childhood, plus the return of an old romance. Martha’s life has run smoothly for
the last two years since she jilted David, her fiancé, but when she encounters him at the funeral, she’s drawn to him again. A bag of papers and letters rescued from her step-father’s (and dead mother’s) home reminds her of a past love as well, Nick, whom she last saw when they were young adults. Nick was the love of her young life, and she now remembers the love with some sorrow that it all changed when he went away to college. The catalyst for the jolt to her life now is her taking charge of Kitten, her step-father’s elderly cat, whom she cannot possibly see a reason
to keep. But her sisters insist that she either keep the cat ot find a home for it. Enter Fred, a magician with two young children and a wife who’s gone AWOL somewhere in the world, who adopts the cat for his daughter. Fred’s a free spirit as well, the total opposite of David, for whom life is like a button-down shirt. What with the men in her life, and her feuding sisters, Martha is content to ride in the eye of the storm without experiencing any of the strife. Then David proposes… You’ll really dig into this one!
Also new and recommended: In Talking Books: “The
Last Nazi” by Stan Pottinger; “Presumption of Death” by Petti O’Shaughnessey; “The Message of the Sphinx” by Graham Hancock; “Clubland” by Frank Owen; “How to Help Your Husband Make More Money So You Can Be a Stay-At-Home Mom” by JoAnne Watson; “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens; “When You Come to A Fork in the Road, Take It!” by Yogi Berra; “The Golden Bowl” by Henry James; “The Debt to Pleasure” by John Lanchester; “The Scion of Shannara” by Terry Brooks; “East of A” by Russell Atwood; “The Talismans of Shannara” by Terry Brooks; “Cymbeline,” King Lear,” ”The Merry Wives of Windsor,” “Troilus and Cressida,” and “The Winter’s Tale,” by Shakespeare; “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde; “The Secret of Annexe 3” by Colin Dexter; “Drinking” by Caroline Knapp; “Flyboys” by James Bradley; “The
Rest of Us” by Jacqueline Mitchard; “The A.B.C. Murders” by Agatha Christie; and “Washington Schlepped Here” by Christopher Buckley.Apropos of the listing of Talking Books above, please bear in mind that you will find a mixture of
cassettes and CDs here; it was recently suggested to us that we should have more CDs than cassettes, as the writer felt that there was not much call for cassettes these days. Knowing how expensive it is to buy a new car these days, we do not want to give drivers with no CD players in their vehicles short shrift! So what we do is try to apportion the funding we have for media purchases so that everyone has something. CDs are often much more expensive than cassettes, and the choices that we have to make between two formats are difficult ones at times. We will continue to purchase both formats until there are no more cassette players on the face of the earth (but remember the resurgence of the vinyl record!) The bottom line(s) are cost, and the
need to serve everyone as much as possible, which we continue to do.

Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs at (www.crbestbuydrugs.org) is a collection of reports that evaluate prescription medicines used for common conditions such as high cholesterol, arthritis, and heartburn. The reports look at efficacy, safety, and price to recommend the best medicines.
At Cookbook Central (www.epicurious.com/features/cookbooks/) "veteran food writer Irene Sax tries out and reports on the best of the new cookbooks. Veterans Affairs Facility Directory is at (www1.va.gov/directory/guide/home.asp?isFlash=1). This site offers a searchable directory of VA facilities throughout the United States. The directory provides information and Web site links for VA central and benefits offices, VA cemeteries, and VA medical facilities that include hospitals, outpatient clinics, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) offices, and vet centers. Facilities can be browsed by state or searched for by facility type and zip code. National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (http://www.nchv.org). This nonprofit group "seeks to eliminate homelessness in the veteran community and serves as a liaison between branches of the federal government and community-based homeless veteran service providers."  National Traffic and Road Closure Information (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/trafficinfo/) provides a directory of highway information for travelers. Road closures, construction delays, and weather-related driving problems are listed by state. Monarchies of Europe (www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/Monarchies_of_Europe.htm) provides genealogical tables for European royalty, including royalty from Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Spain, France, Greece, and more. Frozen Pipes (www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_579_,00.html). Provides "suggestions about how to prevent water pipes in the home from freezing, and how to thaw them if they do freeze. Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs (www.kingtut.org) is a companion to an "exhibition of more than 130 treasures from the tomb of the celebrated pharaoh Tutankhamun which will tour the United States in 2005-2006.
Recently a letter to the editor of this newspaper suggested that the Library had missed the boat with a recent funding request to Township residents. Because the Library itself is not the issuer of the request, we are very sad about the circumstances which led to the letter. Our Friends of the Library group have worked hard and are dedicated to the funding of the Library’s extra-budgetary needs, and have provided, through your contributions, funds for 2004’s May Day celebration, all of the children’s programming needs, including payment to performers for special programs, materials and supplies for arts and crafts programs, gifts for volunteers, Summer Reading Program awards, including books, special items for the Children’s Room, carpeting, painting and shelving for both sections of the Library, computer and storage equipment, new seating for the Reading Area. public relations materials such as book bags, bookmarks and posters, and an ongoing fund earmarked for children’s and adult materials. They will again fund the May Day program on May 1st this year, and plans are being made to renovate the entranceway canopy. Every penny has been spent in aid of the Library, and has been enjoyed by every library user. This information has been made available throughout the years on the Library bulletin board, in the Township newsletter, and in this column. The Friends do need help for their organization – the biggest job is the yearly fund drive, but there is more that can be done – and there is a slip of paper with information about all of the above at the front desk of the Library. If you would like to be a Friend, please call the Library and volunteer. Your help will be appreciated by the Friends, the staff of the Library, and the Library Board, and will benefit library users throughout the Township. Our thanks to you for your support, past, present and future.