12-12-12 The Concert for Sandy Relief

Starting at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 12, "12-12-12," The Concert for Sandy Relief, will be broadcast live from Madison Square Garden via a global network of US and International television stations. We invite you to join us in our Community Room from 7:30 until we close to watch performances by Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, and more.

This concert benefits the Robin Hood Relief Fund and is presented by Chase Bank.

Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).

Easy Economics

Monday, October 15 at 7 p.m.

Let’s face it. Although economics can be a big bore, we need a decent understanding of it if we are to survive in this frightening age of economic uncertainty. Unlike other economics books you may have seen, Easy Economics is filled with informative illustrations and easy-to-understand content that answers economics questions you never knew to ask.

Join us for a presentation from the contributors:

Stephen Buckles has been a board member of the Journal of Economics Education, economics editor of the Business Journal, and Chair of the Individual Investors Advisory Committee of the New York Stock Exchange. He currently teaches economics at Vanderbilt University and lives in Darien.

Lee Smith served as a senior writer and member of the Board of Editors of Fortune Magazine for 20 years and was its Bureau Chief both in Washington and in Tokyo, where his articles won citations for excellence from the Overseas Press Club of America.

Leonard Wolfe spent more than 20 years at Time Inc. as an art director. He designed many of Time-Life Books' most successful series, was Associate Art Director of Fortune, founding art director of Time Inc.'s science magazine Discover, and Promotion Art Director of Time magazine. He lives in Wilton.

Books will be available for purchase at this event. Refreshments will be served.

Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).

"Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures" will be the second title in our Fall Book Discussion Series.

Character Counts - 2012 Fall Book Discussion Series

Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures by Emma Straub

Tuesday, October 16 at 7 p.m.

Ambitious and richly imagined, this novel begins in 1929 and follows Elsa Emerson from her childhood in Door County, Wisconsin where her family owns the Cherry County Playhouse, to the glamour and excess of Hollywood, where she is remade into movie star Laura Lamont. Exploring the power of illusion and the possibility of escape, the expectations placed upon us by others and the identities we create for ourselves, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures is a timeless story of a woman trying to balance career, family, and personal happiness, all while remaining true to herself.

Praise for Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures:

"At once iconic and specific, Emma Straub's beautifully observed first novel explores the fraught trajectory of what has become a staple of the American dream: the hunger for stardom and fame. Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures affords an intimate, epic view of how that dream ricochets through one American life." — Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad

“Emma Straub is a magician, full of brilliance and surprise.” — Lorrie Moore

Library staff members will lead the discussions.

We have copies of the books available for patrons to borrow, but prior reading of the books is not necessary to attend the discussions. Join us October 22 for a visit from the author herself, Emma Straub!

Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen’s).

Starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton

Wednesday, October 17 at 1:30 p.m. - 9 to 5 (1980) Starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton; Rated PG; 110 minutes; Closed captioned for the hearing impaired.

Frank Hart is a pig. He takes advantage in the grossest manner of the women who work with him. When his three assistants manage to trap him in his own house, they assume control of his department and productivity leaps, but just how long can they keep Hart tied up?

"[Parton] is, on the basis of this one film, a natural-born movie star, a performer who holds our attention so easily that it's hard to believe it's her first film." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

For more information, please view the film's trailer.

Charles C. Mann

Tuesday, October 2 at 7 p.m.

Charles C. Mann, author of 1493, will be our featured speaker.

From the bestselling author of 1491 comes a deeply engaging new history of how European settlements in the post-Colombian Americas shaped the world. Presenting the latest research by biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the post-Columbian network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City—where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted—the center of the world. In this history, Mann uncovers the germ of today’s fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars.

Praise for 1493

"Even the wisest readers will find many surprises here...Like 1491, Mann's sequel will change worldviews." —San Francisco Chronicle

"Exemplary in its union of meaningful fact with good storytelling, 1493 ranges across continents and centuries to explain how the world we inhabit came to be." —The Washington Post

“Revelatory.” —Lev Grossman, Time Magazine

About the Author

Charles C. Mann, a correspondent for The Atlantic, Science, and Wired, has written for Fortune, The New York Times, Smithsonian, Technology Review, Vanity Fair, and The Washington Post, as well as for the TV network HBO and the series Law & Order. A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, he is the recipient of writing awards from the American Bar Association, the American Institute of Physics, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Lannan Foundation. His 1491 won the National Academies Communication Award for the best book of the year.

Books will be available for purchase at this event. Refreshments will be served.

Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).

Starring more attractive people than you can shake a stick at!

Wednesday, October 10 at 1:30 p.m. - Working Girl (1988) Starring Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, and Sigourney Weaver; Rated R; 113 minutes; Closed captioned for the hearing impaired.

Tess McGill is a frustrated secretary, struggling to forge ahead in the world of big business in New York. When her boss breaks her leg on a skiing holiday, McGill uses her absence to push ahead with her career. She teams up with investment broker Jack Trainer to work on a big deal but the situation grows complicated after the return of her boss.

"How will the working class be educated to survive and thrive in the computer age? This intoxicating movie has an answer: let her strut her outer-borough wisdom from Wall Street to the Pacific Rim. Watch her fatten portfolios as she melts hearts." - Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine

For more information, please view the film's trailer.

Presented by Aldo Pantano

Wednesday, October 10 at 7 p.m.

You’ve thought of everything – except for how to protect your assets should you need long-term care. Did you know that just one year in a Connecticut nursing home can cost more than $134,000? And Medicare and health insurance may only cover a fraction of these costs. Now there's a way to protect your life savings. If you’re 40 or older, long-term care insurance approved by the State’s Connecticut Partnership for Long-Term Care should be part of your retirement plan. These policies assure you of the highest quality standards. They’re affordable and provide asset protection, protect against inflation, and – most importantly – give you peace of mind through your retirement years. Come learn about how the State’s Partnership for Long-Term Care can help you plan ahead for your future needs.

Presented by Aldo Pantano, a representative from the CT Partnership for Long-Term Care, with the State Office of Policy and Management.

Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).

Co-sponsored by the Darien High School Spanish Department.

Thursday, October 11 at 7 p.m. - LA BESTIA (2011) Documentary feature directed by Pedro Ultreras; Not Rated; 76 minutes; In English and Spanish with English subtitles.

This film screening is co-sponsored by the Darien High School Spanish Department. A discussion with the director will follow the screening. DHS Spanish teachers Tara Allen and Jennifer Degenhardt will facilitate the conversation.

For close to two decades, thousands of Central Americans have lost their dreams, limbs and lives trying to illegally cross Mexico hanging from cargo trains known as "The Beast." Mexico represents a great challenge for those whose only goal is to reach the northern border hoping to cross into the United States.

For Central-American migrants, Mexico has become a cross- less cemetery, an agonizing journey with no way back, a travesty comparable to hell itself. They travel thousands of miles to get to the Mexico-USA border. Exhausted from the journey, hunger and climatic conditions migrants often fall into the wheels of the trains. 'The Beast' as this mode of transportation has become known, is the most viable alternative when crossing a country filled with immigration checkpoints, thieves, Mexican mafia members and authorities who often rob them and kill them.

In order to film this documentary, Pedro Ultreras risked his own life by riding this cargo trains across Mexico with hundreds of Central American migrants for more than two weeks. The Beast is a heartbreaking film that shows the profound suffering of migrant workers attempting to cross Mexico.

For more information, please watch the film's trailer.

Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).

Bob Spitz

Monday, September 10 at 7 p.m.

Bob Spitz, author of Dearie, will be our featured speaker.

It’s rare for someone to emerge in America who can change our attitudes, our beliefs, and our very culture. It’s even rarer when that someone is a middle-aged, six-foot three-inch woman whose first exposure to an unsuspecting public is cooking an omelet on a hot plate on a local TV station. And yet, that’s exactly what Julia Child did. The warble-voiced doyenne of television cookery became an iconic cult figure and joyous rule-breaker as she touched off the food revolution that has gripped America for more than fifty years. Now, in Bob Spitz’s definitive biography, he provides a clear-eyed portrait of one of the most fascinating and influential Americans of our time — a woman known to all, yet known by only a few.

About the Author

Bob Spitz is the award-winning author of The Beatles, a New York Times best seller, as well as seven other nonfiction books and a screenplay. He has represented Bruce Springsteen and Elton John in several capacities. His articles appear regularly in magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times Magazine; The Washington Post; Rolling Stone; and O, The Oprah Magazine, among others.

Books will be available for purchase at this event. Refreshments will be served.

Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).

"Quiet" by Susan Cain will be the first book in our Fall Book Discussion Series.

Character Counts - 2012 Fall Book Discussion Series

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Tuesday, September 18 at 7 p.m.

Did you know that nearly half of Americans are introverts? If you’re not an introvert yourself, you are surely raising, managing, married, or related to one. Cerebral, quiet, perceptive to nuance, and emotionally complex, introverts are often discounted or undervalued. Yet many of the greatest achievers of the twentieth century have been introverts: Eleanor Roosevelt, George Orwell, Rosa Parks, Marcel Proust, Warren Buffett, Larry Page, and Mahatma Gandhi, to name just a few. Without introverts, the world would have missed out on the Apple computer, the theory of relativity, van Gogh’s sunflowers, and The Cat in the Hat.

A self-proclaimed introvert, author Susan Cain, a former Wall Street attorney, challenges what she calls the Extrovert Ideal in Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Our culture, she argues, overvalues the alpha personality—gregarious and highly verbal—while ignoring the subtler strengths of the introvert, such as reflectiveness, persistence, and sensitivity.

Praise for Quiet

“An intriguing and potentially life-altering examination of the human psyche that is sure to benefit both introverts and extroverts alike.” —Kirkus (starred review)

Library staff members will lead the discussions.

We have copies of the books available for patrons to borrow, but prior reading of the books is not necessary to attend the discussions.

Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen’s).