On Saturday May 20 you’re invited to ride your bike to the Main Branch of the Library! From 10aam-2pm we’ll have a little pop-up event focused on the fun of bicycling.
We’ll have the Book Bike out on the Library Lawn for intrepid riders to try, as well as Lawn Games for all ages, and a display of books about bicycling that you can check out on the spot!
Everyone arriving by bicycle is eligible for one of our in-demand library octopus tentacle stickers.
Rain will cancel this event.
Our beloved Book Bike has a busy schedule lined up for this summer. Look for us at the following dates and locations, and keep your eyes open – we might make surprise visits to other community locations and events! Wherever we go the story is free books for all ages.
Summer Mondays at Cape Cod Apartments:
Summer Thursdays at the Farmer’s Market:
Select Homes Games of the Falmouth Commodores:
In general, rain that’s more than “misting” cancels a Book Bike visit so let’s hope for a sunny summer! See you soon, and be sure to wave if you see us pedaling around downtown.
We are happy to announce that the Virtual Mystery Book Club will be spending our spring-summer sessions (May, June, and July) discussing murders in Italy this year! The VMBG meets 9 times a year, exclusively by Zoom, to discuss mystery novels or stories. Each group of three months focuses on a specific theme. Read on to learn about the titles for the coming months and register to join us for one or all of the sessions.
Death at La Fenice, by Donna Leon, on Wednesday May 10, 4:30-5:30pm. Register. Books in CLAMS.
Donna Leon (1942- ) is an American who lived and taught in Italy from 1981-2015, mostly based in Venice. (She has now retired to Switzerland). Death at La Fenice (1992) is the first in a long series of novels featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti.
Description: Beautiful and serene Venice is a city almost devoid of crime. But that is little comfort to Maestro Helmut Wellauer, a world-renowned conductor whose intermission refreshment comes one night with a little something extra in it–cyanide. For Guido Brunetti, vice-commissario of police and genius detective, finding a suspect isn’t a problem; narrowing the large and unconventional group of enemies down to one is. As the suave and pithy Brunetti pieces together clues, a shocking picture of depravity and revenge emerges, leaving him torn between what is and what should be right–and questioning what the law can do, and what needs to be done.
The Shape of Water, by Andrea Camilleri, on Wednesday June 14, 4:30-5:430pm. Register. Books in CLAMS.
Andrea Camilleri (1925-2019) was born in Sicily and originally pursued a career as a writer before finding success as a director, first of plays, then of television shows for the Italian channel RAI. Only late in life did he return to writing and find success with his dark detective novels. The Shape of Water (1994) introduces Inspector Salvo Montalbano and the imaginary Sicilian town of Vigàta.
Description: Silvio Lupanello, a big-shot in Vigàta, is found dead in his car with his pants around his knees. The car happens to be parked in a part of town used by prostitutes and drug dealers, and as the news of his death spreads, the rumors begin. Enter Inspector Salvo Montalbano, Vigàta’s most respected detective. With his characteristic mix of humor, cynicism, compassion, and love of good food, Montalbano battles against the powerful and corrupt who are determined to block his path to the real killer.
The Bellini Card, by Jason Goodwin, Wednesday July 12, 4:30-5:30pm. Register. Books in CLAMS.
Jason Goodwin (1964 – ) is a British writer who was educated in Byzantine history, and once walked from Poland to Istanbul and then wrote a book about it. His has written five historical mysteries set in the Ottoman period, of which The Bellini Card (2010) is the third. His first book featuring investigator Yashim won an Edgar Award.
Description: Istanbul, 1840: the new sultan, Abdülmecid, has heard a rumor that Bellini’s vanished masterpiece, a portrait of Mehmet the Conqueror, may have resurfaced in Venice. Yashim is promptly asked to investigate, but – aware that the sultan’s advisers are against a repurchase of the painting – decides to deploy his disempowered Polish ambassador friend, Palewski, to visit Venice in his stead. Palewski arrives in disguise in down-and-out Venice, where a killer is at large as dealers, faded aristocrats, and other unknown factions seek to uncover the whereabouts of the missing Bellini. In the end, only Yashim can uncover the truth behind the manifold mysteries.
Check out the Falmouth Public Library’s new Narrative Nonfiction Book Club picks for the Spring and Summer ’23 session! Come pick up a copy and join us to share your thoughts as we read across the genres of nonfiction, from history to adventure, memoir/biography, and beyond with books that read like a novel.
We meet on the 1st Thursday of every month from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The group will meet in the Hermann meeting room and for those who wish to join us from home, you can join us via Zoom. Registration is required and the Zoom link will be provided upon registration.
To register, click on the date you wish to attend and fill out the registration form. If you have any questions, please contact the Adult Services department at 508-457-2555 x 7, info@falmouthpubliclibrary.org or text 833-209-9922.
“When the great blizzard of 1888 crippled the entire northeast … Two brothers from one of the nation’s great families – Henry Melville Whitney of Boston and William Collins Whitney of New York – pursued the dream of his city digging America’s first subway, and the great race was on. The competition between Boston and New York played our in an era not unlike our own, one of economic upheaval, life-changing innovations, class warfare, bitter political tensions, and the question of America’s place in the world.”
“One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With starling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.”
“In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe. Set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers, a story of courage and adventure brings to life the rivalry between two enemies – a decorated soldier and a young aristocrat/Army officer – as they set out to find the mysterious headwaters of the Nile River.”
“Agent Josephine, uncovers this little-know history of the famous singer’s life. During the war years, as a member of the French Nurse paratroopers — a cover for her spying work — Baker participated in numerous clandestine activities and emerged as a formidable spy. Drawing on a plethora of new historical material and rigorous research, Lewis upends the conventional story of Josephine Baker, explaining why she fully deserves her unique place in the French Pantheon.”
“Frances Glessner Lee, born a socialite to a wealthy and influential Chicago family in the 1870s, was never meant to have a career, let alone one steeped in death and depravity. Best known for creating the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, Lee developed a system that used the Nutshells dioramas to train law enforcement officers to investigate violent crimes, and her methods are still used today.”
“The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of an immense world. In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us.”
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Please join the Falmouth Public Library and Neighborhood Falmouth on Thursday March 30 at 1:30 PM in the Hermann Meeting Room for an author talk with Ben Carnevale, author of the book Nosbka. Locals and tourists alike pass Nobska Lighthouse in Woods Hole every day. We take comfort in Nobska’s beauty and powerful fourth-order beam. The book takes a close look inside Nobska with photos and text to reveal the history from one of America’s most beloved lighthouses. A native of Newton, MA, Ben Carnevale was educated in electrical and electronic engineering. He worked for various major companies on the Redstone (first space mission) and Jupiter missiles, Sparrow and Hawk missiles, Missile Master Air Defense System Nike missiles, and worked in R&D on the first printed circuit boards and first computer. He holds six company level patents, two personal US patents pending, and has published two books. A U.S. Air Force Korean war veteran, Ben was a proud member of the famed Eddie Rickenbacker 94th Hat in the ring Fighter Interceptor Squadron. Ben has lived on Cape Cod since 1999. Neighborhood Falmouth is a non-profit organization that provides support services to seniors in the Falmouth community. The organization aims to help seniors live independently and maintain their quality of life by providing services such as transportation, grocery shopping, yard work, minor home repairs, and friendly visits. Neighborhood Falmouth operates on a volunteer-based model, where volunteers from the community are matched with seniors who need assistance. This allows seniors to receive personalized support while also fostering a sense of community and connection among volunteers and seniors. This event is free and open to the public. Please register. |
The Virtual Mystery Book Group is taking a hiatus for December but it’s already time to start reading the books for our winter theme. To start off 2023, we’ll delve into some classics of the genre. In January, we’ll read three short stories from the early days of mysteries, by the pioneering authors Arthur Conan Doyle, Maurice Leblanc, and G.K. Chesterton. In February, we’ll learn about bell-ringing in Kent, England as well as solving two distinct crimes when we read The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers. In March, we’ll explore the historical mystery of Richard III with hospitalized Alan Grant as we read Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time.
Join us to read and discuss one of the books below, or all three!
Register to receive the Zoom link and discussion questions before each session. We have print copies of each title waiting at the Reference Desk about a month before each meeting, or you are welcome to find your own copy – digital or even audio! – in CLAMS using the links below.
Wednesday January 11, 2023, 4:30pm: Three Short Stories. Register.
All of these stories are out of copyright and thus available online, directly linked above. They are also collected in various anthologies; please let us know if we can help you find a print copy!
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) wrote the first Sherlock Homes novel in 1886, and is given almost single credit for the wild popularity of crime fiction which persists to this day. In addition to writing fiction he was a physician and spiritualist and wrote widely on a variety of topics. Leblanc (1864-1941), Doyle’s contemporary, began his career as a journalist and novelist but found true success writing the adventures of the thief, Arsene Lupin, who was his main character. Chesterton (1874-1936) also wrote widely, but is best known for his Christian apologetics, so it is fitting that his detective is a Roman Catholic priest.
Descriptions: Is there any need to describe Sherlock Holmes? “A Scandal in Bohemia” was the first short story featuring Holmes, and one of the author’s favorites. It also includes his most notable female character, Irene Adler. “The Arrest of Arsene Lupin” introduces the ‘gentleman thief’ whose exploits, while illegal, are perhaps not of entirely dubious morality. “The Hammer of God” is classic Chesterton, with a cryptic Father Brown turning the mystery upon its head and quietly walking away after determining the true story.
Wednesday February 8, 2023, 4:30pm: The Nine Tailors, by Dorothy Sayers. Register.
Available in CLAMS.
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) was ranked with Christie (and Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh) as top mystery authors of the Golden Age, although she also had a career as an essayist and published an English translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. The Nine Tailors (1934) is the ninth of her novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, a British aristocrat who solves crimes as a hobby.
Description: The nine tellerstrokes from the belfry of an ancient country church toll out the death of an unknown man and call the famous Lord Peter Wimsey to investigate the good and evil that lurks in every person. Steeped in the atmosphere of a quiet parish in the strange, flat fen-country of East Anglia, this is a tale of suspense, character, and mood by an author critics and readers rate as one of the great masters of the mystery novel.
Wednesday March 8, 2023, 4:30pm: The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey. Register.
Available in CLAMS.
Josephine Tey was the pseudonym of the Scottish author Elizabeth MacKintosh (1896-1952), who wrote plays as well as eight mystery novels. Six of them featured police detective Alan Grant, but The Daughter of Time (1951) is unusual in that the detective is flat on his back in a hospital bed, the crime took place five hundred years earlier, and the sources are historical documents.
Description: In The Daughter of Time, Tey focuses on the legend of Richard III, the evil hunchback of British history accused of murdering his young nephews. While at a London hospital recuperating from a fall, Inspector Alan Grant becomes fascinated by a portrait of King Richard. A student of human faces, Grant cannot believe that the man in the picture would kill his own nephews. With an American researcher’s help, Grant delves into his country’s history to discover just what kind of man Richard Plantagenet was and who really killed the little princes.
Join us on Wednesday, November 9th at 6:30pm in the Hermann meeting room as we welcome author Catherine Musemeche. She will be speaking about her latest book Lethal Tides: Mary Sears and the Marine Scientists Who Helped Win World War II. To register for this author talk and book signing, click here.
“Weaving together science, biography, and military history, Lethal Tides is a powerful, revelatory history essential to our understanding of oceanography and naval strategy, and – more importantly – chronicles the gripping story of an unsung woman who was pivotal to the U.S.’s success against Japan in WWII.”
Catherine Musemeche is a graduate of the University of Texas McGovern Medical School in Houston, Texas and the University of Texas School of Law. She has been a pediatric surgeon for more than three decades. Catherine’s first book, Small, was longlisted for the E.O. Wilson/Pen American Literary Science Award and was awarded the Texas Writer’s League Discovery Prize for Nonfiction in 2015. Her second book, Hurt, was named one of the top ten EMS books of the decade. She has also contributed to Smithsonian Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times’ “Motherlode” blog, KevinMD.com, Creative Nonfiction magazine and EMS World.
This event is free to the public and copies of her book will be available from Eight Cousins for purchase at the event.
Check out the Falmouth Public Library’s new Narrative Nonfiction Book Club picks for the upcoming Fall ’22 and Winter ’23 session! Come pick up a copy and join us to share your thoughts as we read across the genres of nonfiction, from history to adventure, memoir/biography, and beyond with books that read like a novel.
We meet on the 1st Thursday of every month from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The group will meet in the Hermann meeting room and for those who wish to join us from home, you can join us via Zoom. The Zoom link will be provided upon registration.
To register, click on the date you wish to attend and fill out the registration form. If you have any questions, please contact the Adult Services department at 508-457-2555 x 7, info@falmouthpubliclibrary.org or text 833-209-9922.
“As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animal are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on a journey that is every bit as mythical as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise.”
“One late spring evening in 2010, Shannan Gilbert – after running through the oceanfront community of Oak Beach screaming for her life – went missing. No one who had heard of her disappearance thought much about what had happened to the twenty-four-year-old – until seven months later. Lost Girls is a portrait of unsolved murders in an idyllic part of America, of the underside of the Internet, and of the secrets we keep without admitting to ourselves that we keep them.”
“Weaving history and personal reflection into one narrative, Philbrick argues for Washington’s unique contribution to the forging of America by retracing his journey as a new President through the former colonies. He paints a picture of 18th century America as divided and fraught as it is today, and he comes to understand how Washington entranced, compelled, enticed, and stood up to the many different kinds of citizens he met on his journey.”
“In Remember, neuroscientist and acclaimed novelist Lisa Genova delves into how memories are made and how we retrieve them. You’ll learn whether forgotten memories are temporarily inaccessible or erased forever and why some memories are built to exist for only a few seconds (like a passcode) while others can last a lifetime (your wedding day). And you’ll see how memory is profoundly impacted by meaning, emotion, sleep, stress, and context.”
“Across our planet since the dawn of humankind, this nefarious pest, roughly the size and weight of a grape seed, has been at the frontlines of history as the grim reaper, the harvester of human populations, and the ultimate agent of historical change. Driven by surprising insights and fast-paced storytelling, The Mosquito is the extraordinary untold story of the mosquitos’ reign through human history and her indelible impact on our modern world order.”
“An unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; and of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul.”
We are excited to welcome Maddie Day also known as Edith Maxwell, Falmouth resident and author of the popular Cozy Capers mysteries, on Wednesday, October 5th at 6:30 pm, for a reading, talk and book signing! She will be discussing the newest book in the series, Murder in a Cape Cottage. Eight Cousins Books will be selling books at the event. Click here to register! Please note that our virtual Mystery Book Club will be discussing the beginning book in the series the following week-check our calendar at falmouthpubliclibrary.org/events for details!
“It’s beginning to look a lot like murder in Agatha-awarding winning author Maddie Day’s latest Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery, as Cape Cod bike shop owner Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida and her book club sleuths must solve a murder before Mac and her fiancée’s New Year’s Eve wedding…as Mac delves into the decades-old mystery with the help of librarian Flo and her book group, she discovers a story of star-crossed lovers and feuding families worthy of the bard himself. Yet this tale has a modern-day villain still lurking in Mac’s quaint seaside town, ready to make this a murderous New Year’s Eve . . .”
Maddie Day is the Agatha Award and Macavity Award-winning author of the Cozy Capers Book Club Mystery series and the Country Store Mysteries, as well as other series written under the name Edith Maxwell. A member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America, she is a regular contributor at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen and belongs to The Wickeds, a group of six bestselling authors who blog at WickedAuthors.com. Day lives with her beau north of Boston, though she knows both Indiana and Cape Cod intimately. She is a talented amateur chef and gardener and can be found online at MaddieDayAuthor.com.
Stop on by the library to see Mimi’s art and then come hear her speak about her 54-day project!
The Falmouth Public Library is delighted to host local artist and writer Mimi Schlichter for an author talk and book signing on Saturday, September 17th from 4pm-5pm in the library’s Hermann meeting room. Mimi will be discussing her most recent book The 54 and Then Some: The 54 Falmouth Beach Paintings in 54 Days Project Expanded Edition with The Other 46, as well as offering a demonstration of her alla prima oil technique used during the project. This author talk, demonstration and book signing event is free to the public and registration is required. To register, click here or call the library at 508-457-2555 extension 7. (Photo Credit: Milt Williamson)
Mimi explains the genesis of the project on the back cover of the book, “On April 1, 2020 the Town of Falmouth closed its beach parking lots as a proactive measure to reduce Covid 19 viral spread. It meant I lost the option of painting beach scenes from the front seat of my car. They remained closed until May 24th. A total of 54 days. One year later, March, 2021, I found myself sitting in my car in a beach parking lost, painting and wondering “why didn’t I do this more often last year?” Then I remembered. I couldn’t get there. The idea came to me to celebrate how life is different this year. So on April 1, 2021, I began a series of 54 paintings of the Falmouth beaches. My personal commitment was to complete the paintings in 54 days, one a day, every day, by May 24. You hold in your hands the result of that commitment. In this new expanded version, I include The Other 46, the paintings completed in the 46 days following the completion of the 54 project. They take the alla prima “a painting a day” run to a full 100 days.”
Concurrently, “The Beaches and Beyond Art Exhibit” by Mimi Schlichter will be on display in the Adult
Collections Room of the Falmouth Public Library for the entire month of September. Mimi describes the show as a gradual exhibit. Her intention is to begin with a representative group of paintings form the original 54-day project, while each week adding newly created, sometime still wet, oil paintings she plans to complete during the month of September. The art exhibit will be on display from September 2nd through September 30th. This art exhibit is free to view and no registration is required. Just stop on by the Adult Collections Room during the library hours.
Mimi Schlichter moved from Pennsylvania to Cape Cod in 1997 to pursue painting in an environment of light and beauty, with nature as her inspiration. She paints mostly in oils, while also enjoying the flexibility and spontaneity of watercolor pencils paired with ink. It is her goal to bring to life scenes and visions that inspire, soothe, and bring joy, be they tiny minis at 2’x2′ or massive multi panel installations.