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Darien Nature Center @ the Darien Library

Thursday, July 23 at 11 a.m.  Just drop-in!

Ages 3 and up and caregiver

 

Join us in welcoming the Darien Nature Center and some of their animal friends to the Darien Library.

 

picutres by flickr users peppergrasss and susteph

Becoming Well Versed

Last week, we hosted the first-ever One Page Poetry Circle at Darien Library, under the leadership of teacher and author Madge McKeithen. Poems by Walt Whitman, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Hart Crane, Robert Frost, and many others were read and discussed, and we hope to repeat our success at the next circle, on Wednesday, August 5!

The Good Old Summertime is the name of our Adult Summer Reading program and we're reminding our readers of the simple pleasures of life, like poetry. One of the discoveries last week was that reading a poem aloud can bring new meaning to light...and all of us went away inspired with each other's poetry choices.

To join us in August, please choose a one page poem that reflects the theme "Poetry & Rhyme." We're displaying some suggestions on Main Street and welcome your ideas and enthusiasm. See you at 7 PM on Wednesday, August 5 for another evening of poetry, cookies, coffee, and community!

Photo from Flickr user bwanderson.

Friday is Taken

It's official....our Summer Film Series is a hit! We opened the series tonight with a great audience and rave reviews. In case you missed the news, we are back with Friday night films throughout July and August! Same time (7:30). Same place (Community Room) Same team (pictured, right - me, Jane, Drew, and Stephanie). And (drumroll, please) Jane's cookies!

Our next film, on Friday, July 10th, will be Taken. 

Starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, and Xander Berkeley; Rated PG-13; 91 minutes; 2009
 
An ex-government operative's daughter is kidnapped while traveling in Paris. He has four days to find her, so he uses his special skills to get her back safe and also get his revenge.
 
This one's a nail-biter, folks. Mark your calendar for Friday as TAKEN!
 
Click on the image at left to watch the film trailer. Click here for our full summer lineup.

 

A very cool (and groovy?) July

While life slows down for many during the summer, we're busy planning and providing suggestions and experiences for your precious down-time. (Also, I'll bet you didn't know that we're also busy planning your fall!*)

Adult Summer Reading continues in July with (right off the bat) a One Page Poetry Circle (tonight, July 1st at 7 p.m.), Meet Us on Main Street, a weekly staff-recommends, Short Stories for Long Days, a short story dicussion group, a special Meet-the-Author event featuring Jayanti Tamm, author of Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult, Classics 2.0, a fun and fresh look at the classics, and a Woodstock Weekend which will feature a screening of Woodstock with an introduction by Bob Spitz, the author of "Barefoot in Babylon: The Creation of the Woodstock Music Festival - 1969."

Monday at Seven will also continue throughout the month (and beyond). The next meeting will be on Monday, July 6th, when the speaker will be Wayne Pasternack of Bloomberg. He will demonstrate the feature of the Bloomberg terminal that will be installed here at the Library on July 1st (major news!).

We also begin our Summer Film Series this Friday, July 3rd at 7:30 p.m. with Confessions of a Shopaholic. Next Friday, July 10th, be here for Taken. The series will run for eight consecutive weeks -every Friday at 7:30. For a the full summer movie lineup, click here.

And as long as we're talking coolness factors, in case you haven't been by the Library in the past week or so, we have refreshing news...the courtyard fountain is now operational (and beautiful)!

 

*...here are a few events that are confirmed for the fall. Ready? I'll wait while you get your calendar/Blackberry/organizer....On Sunday, October 4th at 5:30 p.m., A.J. Jacobs will be here to talk about his new (side-splittingly hilarious) book The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment. And, on Thursday, November 5th at 7 p.m., the week following the release of his newest book "True Blue," David Baldacci will be here. Looks like it won't only be a great summer...the fall is looking spectacular, too!

Looking at the Classics from a New Angle

Classics 2.0!

Thursday, July 23 at 11 AM
The good old summertime is the perfect time to kick back with an old favorite. Why not consider a literary classic? I just picked up A Tale of Two Cities for one of my summer reads. I read somewhere recently, "When you re-read a classic, you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in  you than you saw  before." (Actually, I think you see both...but I like the quote anyway...)

We have an entire room filled with brand new copies of these timeless goodies, and we'll show you how they are remarkably relevant to today's world.

Learn about what constitutes a classic, the meaning of this special collection to Darien, and how your favorite modern-day bestsellers in print, music, and film have deep roots planted in the past.

Refreshments will be served.

Classics 2.0 is an Adult Summer Reading event.

(Photo courtesy of flickr user truds09)

Summer's the Perfect Time for Cartwheels!

 On Thursday, July 16th at 7 p.m., Jayanti Tamm, author of Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult, will be here to talk about her unforgettable life story.

Born and raised in the cult of Sri Chinmoy and declared "The Chosen One," for over 25 years Jayanti lived within the guru's inner circle. Sri Chinmoy assigned Jayanti to court celebrities, infiltrate the United Nations, and find elephants for him to weight-lift, all in an effort to transform the world. At the age of 25, after multiple attempts to leave, she was permanently exiled from the group.

Cartwheels in a Sari is her personal story of growing up "cult" and her eventual freedom and new life.

"...her effort is worthy of applause." -- People (four-star review)

"With a succinct and earnest writing style, Tamm delivers a coming-of-age story overflowing with heartbreaking and hilarious moments." -- Forbes.com

A book signing will follow the presentation and refreshments will be served. Books will be available for purchase.

This Meet the Author program is an Adult Summer Reading event.

Woodstock Weekend

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous music concert in modern history. Join us for a screening of the Academy Award-winning film!Bob SpitzWoodstock (Movie)

Saturday, July 25 at 7 PM
A screening of  Woodstock.
Live introduction by Bob Spitz (pictured, right), author of Barefoot in Babylon: The Creation of the Woodstock Music Festival, 1969.


(Bob Spitz is also the author of Dylan: A Biography, The Beatles: The Biography, and The Saucier's Apprentice: One Long Strange Trip Through the Great Cooking Schools of Europe.)

Please check our website for updates on other events that will take place this weekend.

Woodstock Weekend is an Adult Summer Reading event.

Staff Recommends Goes LIVE! (The Summery Summary)

This morning we kicked off our 4th annual Adult Summer Reading program with Staff Recommends Goes LIVE!  We talked about those books that we're most excited about hoping that we can assist our members in planning their upcoming summer (or anytime) reading getaways. On the panel were staff members Erica, Jen, Barbara M., me, Abby, Pat, Sally, Marianne, Janet, and Kate.

If you were unable to attend this morning, or if you want to refresh your memory of the few dozen titles mentioned, just click on the images  below for our staff picks.

(Don't forget to stop by, sign up, and pick up your packet for Adult Summer Reading!)

    

 

 

Summer Film Series

With the weather that we've been having lately, it's impossible to presume what the summer will be like. What we do know for sure is that we'll be showing movies here every Friday night throughout July and August! Beginning July 3rd and ending on August 28th, our Summer Film Series will make the Library the hottest (and coolest) place in town!

SUMMER FILM SERIES - FRIDAYS - 7:30 P.M. - ADMISSION IS FREE

July 3

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Starring Isla Fisher, Krysten Ritter, and Joan Cusack; Rated PG; 104 minutes; 2009  

Based on the book by Sophie Kinsella, Rebecca Bloomwood is 25 years old and lives with her best friend Suze in a trendy part of town. She has a boring job that doesn’t begin to pay for her shopping addiction. When cutting back doesn’t work, she tries to make more money and, ironically, becomes a financial advice columnist in this comedy. 

July 10

Taken

Starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, and Xander Berkeley; Rated PG-13; 91 minutes; 2009
 
An ex-government operative's daughter is kidnapped while traveling in Paris. He has four days to find her, so he uses his special skills to get her back safe and also get his revenge.

July 17

Last Chance Harvey

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, and Kathy Baker; Rated PG-13; 92 minutes; 2008
    
Harvey Shine is on the verge of losing his job as a jingle writer and only has one more chance to deliver a hit. He goes to London to attend his daughter's wedding and promises to be back in the office on Monday but when he misses his plane, he is fired on the spot. He then strikes up a conversation with a woman in a bar and the unexpected connection transforms both of their lives.  

July 24

Gran Torino 

Starring Clint Eastwood, Brian Haley; Rated R; 116 minutes; 2008
    
Walt Kowalski is a grumpy, tough-minded old man whose prize possession is a 1973 Gran Torino he keeps in cherry condition. When a neighboring teenager tries to steal it, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of the would-be robber’s family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them from the gangs that rule their neighborhood.  
 

July 31

A Walk on the Moon

Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Anna Paquin, Liev Schreiber; Rated R; 107 minutes; 1999

Pearl (Diane Lane), a thirty-year-old wife and mother who longs for a bit of passion spends every summer in the Catskills with her two children and interfering mother-in-law. When a hippie named Walker (Viggo Mortensen) shows up in his funky bus, Pearl falls for his rugged good looks. A steamy love affair follows, resulting in a family-shattering revelation at Woodstock in this drama set in upstate New York in the late 1960s.  

August 7

Grey Gardens

Starring Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange; Not Rated; 104 minutes; 2009
    
In 1973, filmmakers Albert and David Maysles entered the strange world of "Big Edie" and "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale, two charming eccentrics who were relatives of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. In this film we are taken behind the scenes of that famous documentary with a shocking and raw look into the lives of this reclusive mother and daughter who chose to live in squalor and almost total isolation in a decaying, 28-room mansion in East Hampton called Grey Gardens. 

August 14

The Great Buck Howard

Starring Colin Hanks, Tom Hanks, and Emily Blunt; Rated PG; 90 minutes; 2009
    
Troy Gabel is a law-school drop out who impulsively takes a job as an assistant to an aging but charismatic magician. The conjurer is definitely on the downward slope of his career, but the mystery surrounding him keeps Troy intrigued. The two embark on a journey across the country staging the comeback of a lifetime.  

August 21

The Soloist 

Starring Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey, Jr., and Catherine Keener; Rated PG-13; 109 minutes; 2009
    
This biographical drama tells the true life story of musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers. He dropped out of Julliard after developing schizophrenia and became a homeless musician on the streets of Los Angeles. A reporter looking for an article finds Ayers one day and develops a close relationship with the troubled but gifted artist.  

August 28

Duplicity

Starring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, and Tom Wilkinson; Rated PG-13; 125 minutes; 2009
    
CIA Officer Claire Stenwick and MI6 agent Ray Koval are two spies-turned-corporate operatives having a clandestine love affair. They have turned their skills to a high stakes espionage game where they are attempting to secure a product that corporations would do anything to patent. The pair try to stay one double cross ahead of the other, but find that that hardest thing to cheat is their love for one another. 

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

 

This Monday at Seven

Our next "Monday at Seven" meeting will be on Monday morning, June 22.

We will open our doors from 7 to 9 a.m. to provide a resource and meeting center for residents of Darien and Darien Library members. 

For more details about our "Monday at Seven" program for Job Seekers and Networkers, click here. 

The speakers for Monday, June 22:
♦ Mandell L. Crawley, Executive Director, Director of Field Sales, National Sales, Global Wealth Management Group, Morgan Stanley

♦ Brian T. Kelley, Jr., General Management and Consulting, The Buffkin Group, New York/Connecticut 

(To read more information about the speakers, please open the attachments below.)

Last week, The TODAY Show presented a feature on the changing role of libraries in today's challenging economic enviroment. You can view that segment by clicking on the image below.

“Monday at Seven” Schedule

7 a.m. – Library open for participants. Resources are available, and Library                  
staff available. Coffee and bagels will be provided.
8 a.m. – Speaker or speakers in the Conference Room.
9 a.m. – Library opens.

To view Monday at Seven Resources, click here.

For a list of upcoming Job Seeker and Networking Events in our area, click here.

To view Darien Library's Career and Education Resources, click here.

“Monday at Seven” will be at no cost to the taxpayers of Darien; it is fully supported by Darien Library Trustees, and Darien Library staff time will be volunteered.

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