The holiday books are out for your borrowing pleasure!
Stop in for a hot cup of tea, an audio book or video....
New books and old favorites.
(..no, we didn't build this book tree here, but isn't it a great idea?)
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
Fall Book Discussion Series
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré on Monday, October 8
- The Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry on Monday, November 12
- The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer on Monday, December 10
All discussions will begin at 7:00 PM at the library and are free and open to the public. Copies of the books will be available to borrow from the library in advance.
Book Sale
Join us for our annual book sale on
Saturday, September 22
Beginning at 9:00 AM
On the library lawn.
All prices "by donation."
Monday, July 16, 2012
Mystery Short Stories Discussion
The next Book Club for Writers discussion will be held Thursday, July 26 and will feature two classic mystery short stories: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe and "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" by Arthur Conan Doyle. The discussion will begin at 7:00 PM at the library, and will be free and open to the public. Copies of the stories are available from the library in advance.
Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is often cited as the first detective story. Published in 1841 in Graham's Magazine, the tale introduces Auguste Dupin, a Parisian gentleman who solves a baffling double murder through observation and deduction. The story exhibits many of the characteristics that came to be associated with classic detective stories, including an eccentric but brilliant protagonist; a friend who acts as the story's narrator; and the concluding revelation of the solution to the mystery. Poe wrote only two further stories featuring Dupin.
Arthur Conan Doyle created one of the most famous detectives in literature, Sherlock Holmes, and "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" is one of the most popular of the Holmes stories. Set during the Christmas season, the tale features many familiar elements of the Holmes canon, including its London setting and the opening series of deductions by the "consulting detective." Conan Doyle wrote a total of fifty-six short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes, but only four novels. "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" was an early story, first appearing in Strand Magazine in January 1892.
Book Club for Writers is a fiction discussion program that meets four times a year. Discussions are open to all and focus particularly on questions of craft and technique that will interest writers and aspiring writers. Created by the New Hampshire Writers' Project, Book Club for Writers is sponsored locally by a fiction writing group that meets weekly at the Haverhill Corner Library.
Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is often cited as the first detective story. Published in 1841 in Graham's Magazine, the tale introduces Auguste Dupin, a Parisian gentleman who solves a baffling double murder through observation and deduction. The story exhibits many of the characteristics that came to be associated with classic detective stories, including an eccentric but brilliant protagonist; a friend who acts as the story's narrator; and the concluding revelation of the solution to the mystery. Poe wrote only two further stories featuring Dupin.
Arthur Conan Doyle created one of the most famous detectives in literature, Sherlock Holmes, and "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" is one of the most popular of the Holmes stories. Set during the Christmas season, the tale features many familiar elements of the Holmes canon, including its London setting and the opening series of deductions by the "consulting detective." Conan Doyle wrote a total of fifty-six short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes, but only four novels. "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" was an early story, first appearing in Strand Magazine in January 1892. Book Club for Writers is a fiction discussion program that meets four times a year. Discussions are open to all and focus particularly on questions of craft and technique that will interest writers and aspiring writers. Created by the New Hampshire Writers' Project, Book Club for Writers is sponsored locally by a fiction writing group that meets weekly at the Haverhill Corner Library.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Shakespeare Discussion
We at the library love the summer Shakespeare productions by Theatre Under the Stars sponsored by our neighbors at Court Street Arts at Alumni Hall. To prepare for this year's season, we will host a discussion of The Taming of the Shrew on Friday. June 22 at 7:00 PM. The play will be performed a week later, on Friday, June 29, next door. Our discussion is free and open to the public.
One of Shakespeare's most popular and enduring comedies, The Taming of the Shrew is also one of his most controversial plays. Many find the plot to be inherently misogynistic and the behavior of the characters unnecessarily cruel. Katherina, the titular shrew to be tamed, delivers a long monologue near the end of the play which appears to advocate the absolute submission of wives to their husbands, and this scene has proven particularly problematic, especially for contemporary audiences.
The "out of control woman" who requires "taming" was a familiar figure in both drama and folklore in Shakespeare's day. Nevertheless, contemporary scholars believe that even in the Elizabethan era, the play's extreme sexism was controversial; they point to a sequel (written by Shakespeare's successor at the Globe Theater) that features some of the same characters but in which the sexual power politics are reversed. Alternatively, many argue that the play's apparent sexism is not intended to be taken at face value; some contend that it is to be understood as ironical commentary on relations between the sexes, while others hold that it is mitigated by the unreal, farcical nature of the play as a whole.
Despite its controversial nature, The Taming of the Shrew has been staged and adapted for film many times. Perhaps the best-known of the numerous film versions is the adaptation directed by Franco Zeffirelli that starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The play has also inspired other adaptions, including several operas, the musical Kiss Me, Kate, and the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You.
Please join us to kick off this summer's selection of Shakespeare productions!
One of Shakespeare's most popular and enduring comedies, The Taming of the Shrew is also one of his most controversial plays. Many find the plot to be inherently misogynistic and the behavior of the characters unnecessarily cruel. Katherina, the titular shrew to be tamed, delivers a long monologue near the end of the play which appears to advocate the absolute submission of wives to their husbands, and this scene has proven particularly problematic, especially for contemporary audiences.The "out of control woman" who requires "taming" was a familiar figure in both drama and folklore in Shakespeare's day. Nevertheless, contemporary scholars believe that even in the Elizabethan era, the play's extreme sexism was controversial; they point to a sequel (written by Shakespeare's successor at the Globe Theater) that features some of the same characters but in which the sexual power politics are reversed. Alternatively, many argue that the play's apparent sexism is not intended to be taken at face value; some contend that it is to be understood as ironical commentary on relations between the sexes, while others hold that it is mitigated by the unreal, farcical nature of the play as a whole.
Despite its controversial nature, The Taming of the Shrew has been staged and adapted for film many times. Perhaps the best-known of the numerous film versions is the adaptation directed by Franco Zeffirelli that starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The play has also inspired other adaptions, including several operas, the musical Kiss Me, Kate, and the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You.
Please join us to kick off this summer's selection of Shakespeare productions!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Chaon and Murakami Discussion
Join us Thursday, April 26 for the next edition of Book Club for Writers, in which we read and discuss short stories with a particular focus on questions of writing and craft. This month, we will discuss "Big Me" by Dan Chaon and "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning" by Haruki Murakami.
The discussion will be held at 7:00 PM at library, and is free and open to all. Copies of the stories are available at the library.
Dan Chaon is the author of two novels and three collections of short stories, most recently Stay Awake (2012). His short stories have won the Pushcart Prize and the O. Henry Award and have been selected for Best American Short Stories anthologies. His collection Among the Missing, which includes "Big Me," was a finalist for the National Book Award. He teaches creative writing at Oberlin College.
Haruki Murakami is the winner of such international literary awards as the Franz Kafka Prize, the Jerusalem Prize, and the International Catalunya Prize. Perhaps the best-known in the West of living Japanese writers, Murakami is the author of such novels as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, A Wild Sheep Chase, and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. His most recent novel, 1Q84, was a sensation in Japan, where it was published in three volumes, and an international phenomenon when published in English last year. He is widely considered, as described in The Guardian, as "among the world's greatest living novelists."
Book Club for Writers is a fiction discussion group that meets four times a year. It was created by the New Hampshire Writers' Project and is sponsored locally by a fiction writing group that meets weekly at the Haverhill Corner Library. The summer edition will be held on Thursday, July 26 and will feature "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs and "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl.
The discussion will be held at 7:00 PM at library, and is free and open to all. Copies of the stories are available at the library.
Dan Chaon is the author of two novels and three collections of short stories, most recently Stay Awake (2012). His short stories have won the Pushcart Prize and the O. Henry Award and have been selected for Best American Short Stories anthologies. His collection Among the Missing, which includes "Big Me," was a finalist for the National Book Award. He teaches creative writing at Oberlin College.
Haruki Murakami is the winner of such international literary awards as the Franz Kafka Prize, the Jerusalem Prize, and the International Catalunya Prize. Perhaps the best-known in the West of living Japanese writers, Murakami is the author of such novels as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, A Wild Sheep Chase, and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. His most recent novel, 1Q84, was a sensation in Japan, where it was published in three volumes, and an international phenomenon when published in English last year. He is widely considered, as described in The Guardian, as "among the world's greatest living novelists."
Book Club for Writers is a fiction discussion group that meets four times a year. It was created by the New Hampshire Writers' Project and is sponsored locally by a fiction writing group that meets weekly at the Haverhill Corner Library. The summer edition will be held on Thursday, July 26 and will feature "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs and "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Author Tea with Jane K. Cleland
The library will host an author tea with acclaimed mystery novelist Jane K. Cleland on Sunday, April 15. Cleland is the author of the Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries, which are set in New Hampshire and have been hailed as "Antiques Roadshow for mystery fans." The tea will be held from 3:00 to 5:00 PM at Susan Brown's Rock Creek Farm on Route 10 north of Haverhill Corner. Catering will be provided by Janice Robinson, and admission will be $10, to benefit the library.
Cleland's popular series features antiques appraiser Josie Prescott, who operates an antiques store and auction house in fictional Rocky Point, New Hampshire. The first volume in the series, Consigned to Death, has been selected by Library Journal as one of twenty-two "core titles" recommended for libraries seeking to build their collections in cozy mysteries. The Josie Prescott books are "packed with antique lore, complex characters, and intricate plots," says Library Journal.
Cleland has just published her seventh mystery in the series, Dolled Up for Murder, which has already been praised by Publishers Weekly for "action [that] builds to a seamless and fitting conclusion."
In addition to her novels, Cleland has also published short stories in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, where she has a new story scheduled for this summer. Her books have been bestsellers for the bookstores of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. She has served on the national board of the Mystery Writers of America and is past president of its New York City chapter. She is on the faculty of Manhattanville College's Master of Arts in Writing program and has taught writing at MIT.
Call the library to reserve a spot for this event.
Cleland's popular series features antiques appraiser Josie Prescott, who operates an antiques store and auction house in fictional Rocky Point, New Hampshire. The first volume in the series, Consigned to Death, has been selected by Library Journal as one of twenty-two "core titles" recommended for libraries seeking to build their collections in cozy mysteries. The Josie Prescott books are "packed with antique lore, complex characters, and intricate plots," says Library Journal.
Cleland has just published her seventh mystery in the series, Dolled Up for Murder, which has already been praised by Publishers Weekly for "action [that] builds to a seamless and fitting conclusion."
In addition to her novels, Cleland has also published short stories in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, where she has a new story scheduled for this summer. Her books have been bestsellers for the bookstores of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. She has served on the national board of the Mystery Writers of America and is past president of its New York City chapter. She is on the faculty of Manhattanville College's Master of Arts in Writing program and has taught writing at MIT.
Call the library to reserve a spot for this event.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Bleak House Book Discussion
The library will host a discussion of Bleak House by Charles Dickens on Monday, March 19 at 7:00 PM. The discussion will be free and open to the public, and copies of the book are available to borrow from the library in advance.
Frequently named by critics as Dickens's best novel, Bleak House is his most complex in terms of plot and character and his most innovative in terms of narration. The novel is also one of the very in English literature to feature a professional detective as a character; Inspector Bucket participates in several investigations in the course of the book and in the latter part, conducts a murder inquiry. (The character was probably based on a real Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Charles Frederick Field.)
The lynchpin of the novel is the long-running lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce, which provides the vehicle for Dickens's savage satire of England's Court of Chancery. At that time, Chancery had jurisdiction over questions involving wills, estates, guardianship, property, and other matters, and was notorious for its arcane rules and sluggish pace; in the novel, Chancery suits are depicted as blighting the lives of most litigants while their lawyers prosper and thrive. Only those who can turn their backs on the litigation, such as the admirable John Jarndyce, escape its baleful influence. The novel both reflected and contributed to popular dissatisfaction with the Chancery system, and some twenty years after its publication, Parliament enacted comprehensive reforms of the legal system.
Bleak House was also controversial in its time for its use of spontaneous human combustion as a plot device, though Dickens himself believed in the phenomenon and vigorously defended that belief.
The library's discussion series featuring the works of Dickens will conclude on April 16 with Great Expectations.
Frequently named by critics as Dickens's best novel, Bleak House is his most complex in terms of plot and character and his most innovative in terms of narration. The novel is also one of the very in English literature to feature a professional detective as a character; Inspector Bucket participates in several investigations in the course of the book and in the latter part, conducts a murder inquiry. (The character was probably based on a real Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Charles Frederick Field.)
The lynchpin of the novel is the long-running lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce, which provides the vehicle for Dickens's savage satire of England's Court of Chancery. At that time, Chancery had jurisdiction over questions involving wills, estates, guardianship, property, and other matters, and was notorious for its arcane rules and sluggish pace; in the novel, Chancery suits are depicted as blighting the lives of most litigants while their lawyers prosper and thrive. Only those who can turn their backs on the litigation, such as the admirable John Jarndyce, escape its baleful influence. The novel both reflected and contributed to popular dissatisfaction with the Chancery system, and some twenty years after its publication, Parliament enacted comprehensive reforms of the legal system.
Bleak House was also controversial in its time for its use of spontaneous human combustion as a plot device, though Dickens himself believed in the phenomenon and vigorously defended that belief.
The library's discussion series featuring the works of Dickens will conclude on April 16 with Great Expectations.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Chicken and Biscuit Supper Saturday March 10th
To Benefit the Haverhill Corner Library. Book sale starts at 5pm. Tickets $10
Menu: Chicken and Biscuits*Coleslaw*Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae
Raffle $30 Gift Certificate to Woodsville Book Store! Raffle Tickets $1 each
To Reserve tickets call 603-989-5578 or purchase tickets at the library.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
David Copperfield Book Discussion
The library will sponsor a book discussion featuring David Copperfield by Charles Dickens on Monday, February 20 at 7:00 PM. The discussion will be free and open to the public, and copies of the book are available to borrow in advance.
David Copperfield is not only one of Dickens's most popular and enduring books, it is also the novel in which he drew most directly on autobiographical material. In particular, the episode in which the young protagonist is sent to work in a factory is reminiscent of the author's own childhood experience of working ten-hour days in a boot-blacking factory to help support his family.
Dickens is particularly famous for the many memorable characters he created, and David Copperfield features two of the best remembered, Wilkins Micawber and Uriah Heep. The impecunious but ever-hopeful Mr. Micawber, who is jailed for debt in the course of the novel, is generally considered to be modeled on Dickens's own father, who was also imprisoned for debt. The name of the odious Uriah Heep, meanwhile, has become a synonym for manipulative and malevolent sycophancy.
Like most of Dickens's novels, David Copperfield was first published in serial form; it appeared as a book in 1850. It was the author's first novel to be written in the first person, and Dickens subsequently declared it to be his own favorite from among all his novels.
This discussion is part of our series featuring the works of Charles Dickens in honor of the bicentennial of his birth this year.
David Copperfield is not only one of Dickens's most popular and enduring books, it is also the novel in which he drew most directly on autobiographical material. In particular, the episode in which the young protagonist is sent to work in a factory is reminiscent of the author's own childhood experience of working ten-hour days in a boot-blacking factory to help support his family.
Dickens is particularly famous for the many memorable characters he created, and David Copperfield features two of the best remembered, Wilkins Micawber and Uriah Heep. The impecunious but ever-hopeful Mr. Micawber, who is jailed for debt in the course of the novel, is generally considered to be modeled on Dickens's own father, who was also imprisoned for debt. The name of the odious Uriah Heep, meanwhile, has become a synonym for manipulative and malevolent sycophancy.
Like most of Dickens's novels, David Copperfield was first published in serial form; it appeared as a book in 1850. It was the author's first novel to be written in the first person, and Dickens subsequently declared it to be his own favorite from among all his novels.
This discussion is part of our series featuring the works of Charles Dickens in honor of the bicentennial of his birth this year.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Dickens Book Discussion Series
The library will celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Dickens in 2012 with a book discussion series featuring his works. Discussions will be free and open to the public, and copies of the books will be available to borrow from the library in advance. We will discuss:
The Pickwick Papers on Monday, January 16;
David Copperfield on Monday, February 20;
Bleak House on Monday, March 19; and
Great Expectations on Monday, April 16.
Born February 7, 1812, Charles Dickens was one of the most famous and popular writers of the Victorian era. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, became a popular phenomenon while still being published as a monthly serial, firmly establishing his career as an author. He would go on to write some of the best-known novels in English literature, including those mentioned above as well as such works as Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol. His books are characterized by colorful characters, elegant prose, complex plots, and engagement with social issues.
The bicentennial of his birth is an opportunity to reflect on Dickens's lasting contribution to English literature and his continued popularity with readers after two hundred years. It will be marked by events, exhibits, and readings around the country, including the release of a new movie version of Great Expectations with Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham and Ralph Fiennes as Abel Magwiitch.
The Pickwick Papers on Monday, January 16;
David Copperfield on Monday, February 20;
Bleak House on Monday, March 19; and
Great Expectations on Monday, April 16.
Born February 7, 1812, Charles Dickens was one of the most famous and popular writers of the Victorian era. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, became a popular phenomenon while still being published as a monthly serial, firmly establishing his career as an author. He would go on to write some of the best-known novels in English literature, including those mentioned above as well as such works as Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol. His books are characterized by colorful characters, elegant prose, complex plots, and engagement with social issues.
The bicentennial of his birth is an opportunity to reflect on Dickens's lasting contribution to English literature and his continued popularity with readers after two hundred years. It will be marked by events, exhibits, and readings around the country, including the release of a new movie version of Great Expectations with Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham and Ralph Fiennes as Abel Magwiitch.
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