Category: Books

Enjoy some virtual lectures from other Massachusetts libraries this month!

Posted on by Sue

These are Zoom lectures put on by other libraries, who have shared the registration links with us, so our patrons can attend!

There are two at the same time on Tuesday night, August 1st at 7 pm:

White House By The Sea — A Century Of The Kennedys At Hyannis Port, offered by the Tewksbury Public Library-click here for more details and registration! You will also receive a link to the recording after the event.

“Author Kate Storey will discuss her brand new book, “White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port,” in this ZOOM webinar. The book provides a sweeping history of an American dynasty that has left an indelible mark on our nation’s politics and culture.”

7 Scientific Reasons to Meditate Now, by the Shrewsbury Public Library-click here to register on their site!

“Join the Shrewsbury Public Library with Manish Saggar, PhD and Assistant Professor in Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, for a virtual presentation of data from recent neuroscientific studies on how regular meditation practices improve our physical, mental, and emotional health. He will also discuss how, by focusing one’s attention during meditation, we can gain happiness and harmony.”

Later in the month, on Monday, August 28th at 7 pm:

An Evening with Bestselling Authors Lisa Jackson & Nancy Bush, also from Tewksbury Library; click here for details and registration!

“Bestselling authors (and sisters!) Lisa Jackson and and Nancy Bush will discuss their latest books in this ZOOM webinar. Jackson will discuss The Last Sinner, a gripping novel of suspense featuring two veteran homicide detectives matching wits with a twisted serial killer lurking in the shadows of New Orleans. Bush will discuss The Camp, a chilling novel of suspense where a diabolical modern twist on Friday the 13th meets Yellowjackets at a summer sleepaway camp isolated in the woods of Oregon.”

 

 

Falmouth Reads: Graphic Novel Events

Posted on by Library User

Our 2023 Falmouth Reads book, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, is named for the graphic novel that is created by one character, and much loved and carried around by another. Did reading the book get you wondering more about graphic novels, where the medium came from, and maybe even how you make one yourself? Our day of graphic novel exploration is for you! Join a visiting graphic novelist and educator for a lecture and a hands-on workshop.

Visual Literacy & the Graphic Novel, Wednesday August 16, 10:30am in the Hermann Room.

From the Bayeux Tapestry to Maus, Hokusai to airplane safety cards, sequential visuals have long been used to entertain and inform. Unlike verbal literacy, visual literacy is not generally taught, yet an understanding of it is employed for comprehension and analysis on a daily basis. Via a brief history of comics and an overview of the rise of the graphic novel, we’ll explore the significance of visual literacy and how it features in literary culture today. If your interest in graphic novels was piqued by reading 2023’s Falmouth Reads Together title, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, this lecture will help you learn more about the medium’s history and current status. Please register.

Hands-on Graphic Novel Creation Workshop, Wednesday August 16, 2:00pm in the Hermann Room.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to create your own graphic novel? Join us for a hands-on workshop with experienced author-illustrator Marika McCoola that will get you brainstorming, storytelling, writing, and drawing – even if you’re a complete novice! If reading Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, the 2023 Falmouth Reads Together title, got you inspired to explore your creativity in this format, join us for the Graphic Novel Workshop on Wednesday August 16 from 2-3:30 in the Hermann Room. This workshop is suitable for teen and adults, and we ask you to register as space is limited.

Marika McCoola is an illustrator, educator, and the New York Times bestselling author of Baba Yaga’s Assistant. She holds a MFA in Illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland and an MFA in Writing for Children from Simmons College.

Author Sarah DiGregorio, Taking Care

Posted on by Sue

Come hear Falmouth native Sarah DiGregorio discuss her new work, Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World, on Tuesday evening, August 8th, at 6:30 p.m. in the Hermann Room.  She will read from her book and take questions from the audience-light refreshments will be served! The book will be available to buy from Eight Cousins Books. Registration is requested-click here!

From the New York Times: “The author explores the history, culture and crucial importance of nurses…DiGregorio’s storytelling is pitch-perfect ….this is a brilliant book, and DiGregorio is a beautiful writer. Taking Care deserves to be on the reading list for nursing and medical schools, and on the bedside table of all politicians.” 

 Sarah grew up in Falmouth, and her mother was a children’s librarian at Falmouth Public Library! She is also the author of Adventures in Slow Cooking: 120 Slow-Cooker Recipes for People Who Love Food and Early: An Intimate History of Premature Birth and What It Teaches Us about Being Human.  She is a journalist who has written on health care and other topics for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Slate and Insider, among others. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her daughter and husband. For more information, click here for her website.

This event is free.  Registration is requested; go to falmouthpubliclibrary.org/events or call the reference department at 508-457-2555 x 7.

We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care

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Please join author Dr. Amy Finkelstein and former Obama administration official Dr. Christina Romer in a conversation about Dr. Finkelstein’s new book, We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care. The conversation will take place on Thursday August 17, at 2pm, in the Speck Auditorium at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. The Speck Auditorium is in the Rowe Building, at Water Street and MBL Street. Books will be available for purchase via Eight Cousins.

We’ve Got You Covered, by Finkelstein and Liran Einav of Stanford, presents a wholly original argument and comprehensive blueprint for an American universal health insurance system that will surprise and provoke.

Amy Finkelstein

“We’ve Got You Covered is the clearest diagnosis of the American health care system I have seen. Thought-provoking, readable, and realistic yet optimistic, this book should and will reset the debate about how to fix health care.”
— Siddhartha Mukherjee, physician, biologist, and author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

“I never thought the day would come when I say this about an economics book, but this is unputdownable. Witty, erudite without being overbearing, opinionated, and convincing–this book is a jewel. If you open the first page, you will want to know how it ends!”
— Esther Duflo, Nobel Laureate in Economics and co-author of Good Economics for Hard Times

Christina Romer

Dr. Amy Finkelstein is an Professor of Economics at MIT, a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, and a lifelong summer resident of Falmouth.

Dr. Christina Romer was the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Obama in 2009-2010, and now teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.

Please register as space is limited.

Falmouth Reads Book Discussions

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Join our Traveling Book Discussion Group to talk about Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, our 2023 Falmouth Reads title.

Come to the library-based discussion most convenient for you!

Want an extended deep-dive into Station Eleven? We’re planning a four-class series on the book as part of our October Joy of Learning – stay tuned!

Did you love Station Eleven? Join the Fiction Book Club on November 21st to read Emily St. John’s latest novel Sea of Tranquility! Register.

Alzheimer’s Fantasy in the Key of G

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Join Kirsten Levy, an author with deep local roots (her great-grandparents were married in St. Joseph’s Church!) reading from her book. This author talk will take place on Monday, July 10 at 11am in the Hermann Room. Eight Cousins will have copies of the book for sale.

Alzheimer’s Fantasy in the Key of G is a tale in which unmoored thoughts become their own voyages into the past and future, revealing a story of family history and Irish immigration. Fran, the author’s mother, whose health is declining, is only one of the intertwined points of view telling the story.

A creative, narrative tale where fantasy and personal witness speak up for the patient.

Please register using the events calendar or contact the library.

Poetry Reading: Baltic Amber in a Chest

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Join poet Clarissa Jakobsons as she reads from and discusses her 2023 book, Baltic Amber in a Chest, about her Lithuanian family’s history in World War II. She’ll come to us fresh from a residency in Provincetown, and will have copies of her book available. This event will take place on Thursday June 22, 2023, from 2-3pm, in the Hermann Room.

This event is open to all; please register.

Bike to the Library Day: Saturday May 20!

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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.

The Book Bike Rides: Summer 2023!

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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:

  • The Book Bike will visit 62 Locust Street one Monday each month this summer.
  • Find us there on these Mondays at 10:30 AM: May 15, June 12, July 17, August 7, September 11, October 2.

Summer Thursdays at the Farmer’s Market:

  • The Book Bike can be found Thursdays at the Falmouth Farmer’s Market at Marine Park, 180 Scranton Ave.
  • We are there from 12:30-1:30 PM, starting when the Market opens May 25, and until they wrap it up on October 5.

Select Homes Games of the Falmouth Commodores:

  • We’ll be there some nights the Falmouth Commodores play at Fuller Field, behind 790 Main Street (Gus Canty Recreation Center).
  • Find us there Tuesday June 13, Tuesday June 20, Wednesday July 19, Wednesday July 26, and Wednesday August 2, all at 6pm.

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.

 

Virtual Mystery Book Group S/S 2023: Murder in Italy

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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.