Pass the Cheese, Please!

Calling all hipsters and foodies!  The newest trend in the food world is bringing back the old.  And it just so happens that my favorite food item of all time is having a relapse:  the grilled cheese.  I prefer mine with a bit of pesto and a fresh tomato, but in this book (yes, we have it at the library):

you can learn all different sorts of ways to make your favorite sandwich of all time.  Brie?  Of course!  Artichoke and Chicken??  Why, I believe it's possible!!  Tums??  Well, maybe not.  The hardest part about making these recipes will be finding some of the delish and unique ingredients some of them call for.  Hopefully you have a Russian, Mexian, and Chinese grocery near your house like I do.  And if no...well, then I'm sure Wal-mart has a decent generic on the shelf.  Seriously, if you're a lunch person and love cheese as much as this Wisconinsite..check this out.  It won't PLEASE you.  It will CHEESE YOU. 


Example of mouth watering sandwich you could be eating if you went to the library to check out this book:

Example of sandwich that is not in this book and that will not make your mouth water:

Yikes!

"The Help" Book Discussion and Viewing

I've just learned that the Burlington Plaza Theatre will be hosting a viewing of the movie "The Help" followed by a book discussion some time in the near future. I don't have a date yet, but you can call the movie theatre @ 262-763-7697 to get more information. I expect this event to take place within the next week or so--so keep your calendars open!

This is really great idea and would be a wonderful event to attend with a few girlfriends! Pass the word!

Perfect Reader: A Novel

In this enchanting debut novel, Maggie Pouncey brings to the the unforgettable Flora Dempsey, the headstrong and quick-witted only child of Lewis Dempsey, a beloved former college president and famous literary critic in the league of Harold Bloom.

At the news of her father's death, Flora quits her big-city job and returns to Darwin, the quaint New England town where she grew up, to retreat into the house he has left her, filled as it is with reminders of him. Even weightier is her appointment as her father's literary executor. It seems he was secretly writing at the end of his life--love poems to a girlfriend Flora didn't know he had. Flora soon discovers that this woman has her own claims on Lewis's poetry and his memory, and in the righteousness of her loss and bafflement at ther father's secrets--his life so richly separate from her own in ways she never guessed.
Flora is besieged by well wishers and literary bloggers alike as she tries to figure out how to navigate it all: the fate of the poems, the girlfriend who wants a place in her life, her memories of her parents' divorce, and her own uncertain future.
At once comedic and profound, Perfect Reader is a heady, uplifting story of loneliness and of the spur to growth that grief can be. Brimming with energy and with the elbow-patchy wisdom of her still-vivid father, Flora's story will ste her free to be the "perfect reader" not just of her father's life but of her own as well.

August TAB Meeting

Our first Teen Advisory Board meeting of the year will be held on Monday, August 29th from 6:30-7:30 p.m. I encourage any tweens and teens over the age of twelve to attend this meeting if they are interested in joining TAB or are currently a member. We will be discussing future events at the library, a community service project, and a holiday project that I think you're really going to get a kick out of!

If you are not currently a member of TAB, please feel free to stop by and enjoy some pizza and great conversation with other teens from the area. We always have a great time and every person brings a unique perspective to the group--so new members are always and actively encouraged!!

It is a safe place to discuss your interests, your vision for our library, teen programming, and what materials would add to our collection.

We always have some food, participate in a group activity, and brainstorm wildly...so if this sounds at all interesting to you, stop by or email Emily at escherrer@waterford.lib.wi.us

Hope to see you there!

*(Due to space issues, we will moving TAB meetings to the Community Room)*

Butch Cassidy...A New Story??

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A rare books collector says he has obtained a manuscript with new evidence that Butch Cassidy wasn't killed in a 1908 shootout in Bolivia but returned to the U.S. and lived peaceably in Washington state for almost three decades.

The manuscript, "Bandit Invincible: The Story of Butch Cassidy," dates to 1934. At 200 pages, it's twice as long as a previously known but unpublished novella of the same title by William T. Phillips, a machinist who died in Spokane in 1937.

Utah book collector Brent Ashworth and Montana author Larry Pointer say the text contains the best evidence yet – with details only Cassidy could have known – that "Bandit Invincible" was not biography but autobiography, and that Phillips himself was the legendary outlaw.

More here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/15/butch-cassidy-biography-survived_n_927256.html?ir=Books

Next in Adventure.....

This week I had the pleasure of reading two new books in the non-fiction adventure category--both of which I enjoyed thoroughly. The first, Finding Everett Ruess, is a biography of a young man in search of himself in the American Southwest--reminiscent of "Into the Wild" by Krakauer. Ruess, however, was fully prepared and familiar with the area--often stopping along the way at Mormon or Native American settlements, and knew a great deal about the plants and geography of the region. Ruess was raised in a Bohemian family and quickly became enraptured by the "Bohemian lifestyle" of the artists in the Southwestern region of the States. His temperament and passion are iconicized in the letters and diary entries he kept while on his many travels and easily rival that of a young Thoreau. Ruess vanished in 1934--no remains were ever found and thus begins the mystery of his dissapearance that led to this book. Theories abound: killed by Ute Natives, fell into a crevasse, married a woman and decided to vanish, killed himself, et. al. Ruess's dissapearance has spawned many adventurers to try and "seek him out" but sadly, to no avail. This book doesn't give us many answers, but it does give us a glimpse of the life of a man who was extremely ahead of his time and whose passion for life leaps off the page.
The second, Murder in the High Himalayas, chronicles the disturbing journey of Tibetan refugess seeking religious and cultural freedom in neighboring regions. China firmly controls Tibet, and closely monitors the paths refugees take to get to freedom--which run along some of the highest and dangerous peaks in the entire world. Sadly, this book chronicles the mistreatment--and ultimately a murder--that occurs on this path to freedom, whose snow-capped ridges are not uncommonly dotted with the blood of loyal Tibetans. This book interweaves the stories of the refugees, the history of China and Tibet, and also the biographies of the mountain climbers who witness this particular event in an incredibly readable and high-anxiety manner. I was on the edge of my seat all evening and stayed up late to finish. If this book doesn't want to make you go out and buy a bumper sticker that reads "Free Tibet"....nothing will. Recommended.

Foxfire Series...Still Worth a Read!

Anyone who's interested in history should know about this series. An exhaustive study conducted by a professor and his history students on the East Cost, the Foxfire series documents how rural Americans lived fifty years ago in Appalachia. This series chronicles the adventures of mountain-folk in nearly twelve volumes and ranges in topic from corn-shukin' to weed pullin'. The second book in the series chronicles local ghost stories, personal narratives, and how to schuck some corn. There are photos throughout the book, and while previously if somebody asked me what book I'd take if I had to spend eternity on a desert island I would have responded: "Hmmm....? The Tao? The Zombie Survival Guide...I don't know...something common sense." I can now honestly say I would take this tome. Because it's practical while providing excellent knowledge on how to live off the land, make moonshine in a pinch, and host a hoedown without ticking off the neighbors.

While the practical side of these volumes will no doubt appeal to many, the personal narratives are by far some of the most interesting I've ever read. One particular fable in this volume about an ol-timer running his wife out of his house after catching her in a very precarious position was one of my personal favorites. But there are others that are incredibly no-nonsense and bring forth the warmth and genuine personalities of these awesome can-do people in way no other work has so exhaustively accomplished.