Great Escapes by Scott Christianson

Apollo 13..."Miracle on the Hudson"...Ernest Shackleton...some of the most amazing and inspiring stories of human endurance and triumph are in our new collection, Great Escapes: The Stories Behind 50 Remarkable Journeys. Within these pages, we read unforgettable accounts of survivors who battled nature, escaped from brutal prison camps, eluded terrorists, murderers, and wild animals, and lived to tell their tales.

Many of these stories are so ingrained in our culture that the original details have been lost to time. We all know about the 1962 escape attempt  from Alcatraz, but did those three prisoners actually make it to freedom? What brought hiker Aron Ralston, trapped by a rock, to such a horrifying life-or-death decison? How did anyone survive Jonestown? Many of these tales have been made into successful films, such as Papillon, Midnight Express, Apollo 13, and The Great Escape, and author Scott Christianson compares cinematic versions to actual eyewitness accounts. He also reminds us of what it takes to succeed in the face of overwhelming odds: a cool, intelligent plan, patience, and no small amount of luck. Great Escapes -- a great get-away read!

The Spring Book Discussion Series, Dysfunction Junction: The Lives of Others, continues!

Tuesday, April 20 at 7 PM

Our third selection is The Tender Bar: A Memoir by J.R. Moehringer. Library staff members will lead the discussion (the Library has copies of the books available for patrons to borrow, but prior reading of the books is not necessary to attend the discussions.)

The Tender Bar: A Memoir tells of author Moehringer's life spent searching to fill the enormous void left by his father's abandonment of him as a young child. At age 8, he surprisingly discovers refuge and companionship at the corner tavern, where the daily characters that drink, share stories, and leave their worries behind form a "fatherhood-by-committee" for the boy. As Moehringer moves on with different aspects of his life - his schooling, his jobs, his relationships - he struggles to tear himself away from something that provided so much solace to him during difficult times.

"A fierce and funny coming of age story about ambition and yearning and necessary betrayals...A superb literary brew." – NPR

How do you make the impossible possible? For writer Roger Rosenblatt, it’s facing a new reality after the sudden and unexpected death of his daughter, who left behind a grieving husband and three young children. Rosenblatt and his wife move into the family’s home and start the process of moving forward while absorbing an impossible loss…they answer heartbreaking questions from the children, attend school events and carpool to play dates, create silly songs and new routines, and yes, learn to make toast to each child’s specifications.

This memoir has the potential to be overly sentimental and maudlin, but Rosenblatt keeps his tone upbeat and maintains a forward motion that rings true. There are moments of grief, moments of bright laughter, setbacks and moments of great courage, and even humor. Making Toast is an intimate, frank account of how one family faces the impossible and finds a new path, together.

Dr. Mark Schenker of Yale University to speak on December 1st at 7PM

Tuesday, December 1st at 7 PM

Over the past few months, you have joined Darien Library's staff as we have visited England, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, China, and France - and even found a bit of time to have some truly inspiring conversations about books! Though there were a lot of differing opinions about the characters, the authors' intents, the plots, and even the book covers, all who participated in this year's Fall Book Discussion Series, Adventures for the Armchair Traveler, were able to settle on one single idea - that there is nothing quite like experiencing other cultures...other ideas...other lives...through a beautifully written word.

And whether or not you have read our selections for this series (Little Bee, A Golden Age, The Painter From Shanghai, and the one that seems to have generated the most love/hate relationships of them all - The Elegance of the Hedgehog), you won't want to miss out on the conclusion to our adventures in travel; it will surely be a treat for us all!

Our final destination is home - Darien Library, in fact! We welcome back one of our favorite speakers, Dr. Mark Schenker of Yale University, who will visit us on December 1st at 7:00 p.m.  to give a fascinating lecture, "Imagined Travels to Real Places: How Fiction Connects Us to Places We've Never Been." We will learn about how fiction, more than simply visiting a country as a tourist, allows us to experience another place or culture so that we really understand...we "get it" and not just "get there." It will surely be a treat for us all! 

Mark J. Schenker has been at Yale College since 1990. He is currently an associate dean of the College and dean of academic affairs. Born and raised in New York City, he received his Ph.D. in English Literature from Columbia University and has taught at Columbia, New York University, and Trinity College (Hartford). He was the recipient of the 2001 Wilbur Cross Award for Outstanding Humanities Scholar, presented by the Connecticut Humanities Council.