Category Archives: What’s New

Association News

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NewsThe Riverton Free Library Association held its Annual and Regular Meeting of the Board on Thursday, January 29th and continued its business meeting on Monday, February 2nd.  At the meeting on the 29th, President Karen Healey honored retiring members, Charles Milligan, board member since 1979, and Patricia Solin, member since 2002 and VP since 2005, for their years of service to the library and the community.

New members were voted in, Kim Paulsen and Susan Bye who is completing Charlie’s tenure.  The Executive Board was formed for this coming year: President Karen Healey, Vice President Kim Paulsen, Treasurer Eleanor Paladino, and Secretary Beatrice Horn.

On the agenda was a presentation of this website to all those in attendance by webmaster, Pat Solin.  Also discussed was the upcoming RFL Association Newsletter/Appeal, the progress of the upgrades to the library’s two public bathrooms, and the repurposing of the “new” library basement for use by the Historical Society of Riverton for the expansion and display of the town’s archival materials.  At the meeting on the 2nd, the Board endorsed the HSR’s proposal of extending their archival space for enhanced storage of historical documents and memorabilia as well as having a focused space that will continue for donated books for the book sale.

Attention Kids! The Year’s Best Books Have Been Chosen!

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Girl with booksOnce a year the best of in children’s fiction and picture books are chosen by the American Library Association.  The Caldecott Medal for best illustrated children’s book went to Dan Santat who wrote and illustrated, The Adventures of Beekle: The Imaginary Friend.  For reluctant readers who love sports and will appreciate a story in verse, Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover won the Newbery Medal.  For more great choices, including the summary of Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award winning book, Jacqueline Woodson’s brown girl dreaming, see our For Kids! page.

Treat Yourself to a New Read — The Wives Club

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booksNot for women only!  Nancy Fort, staff member of the RFL, in her third in the series, has selected books that detail the fictional lives of the wives and paramours of some of the famous — Hemingway, FL Wright, FS Fitzgerald & Charles Lindbergh.  Great choices for book clubs!

It all started for me with Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. The story of architect Frank Lloyd Wright as told from the perspective of his lover Mameh Cheney. This was the first book of several that I read about women in relationships with famous men, what Publisher’s Weekly refer to as the “complex-woman-behind-the-legendary-man genre”. The Paris Wife by Paula McCain tells the story of Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley Richardson while they lived in Paris and mingled with other American expatriates such as the Fitzgeralds, Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Z: a novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Fowler was a natural follow up as the cast of characters overlapped from The Paris Wife. I finished my look at the wives of famous men with The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin. This novel focused on the life of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, spouse of Charles Lindbergh.

The first thing to keep in mind while reading these books is that they are fiction. They are based on real people and events and rely on meticulous author research for period details. While the scenes are very realistic, the reader can only surmise what motivated the women in these stories to stay in relationships with very famous and often very difficult men. Anne Morrow Lindbergh is the exception as she wrote several books that included her personal diaries and letters and her reflections about her life. I picked up her book Gift from the Sea while browsing at the library. The book was originally published in 1955 yet is amazingly applicable to the lives that many of us lead today. I found the book a wonderful study of the role of the modern woman written by an insightful and gifted author.

Treat Yourself to a New Read – Especially for Teens

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ALA book recommendationsTo quote Bram Stoker of Dracula fame: “I want you to believe…to believe in things that you cannot.”   I do believe that Nancy Fort, RFL staff member, in her second of a series of book reviews, has chosen some great titles with teens in mind.  “Once again…welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring.”

I admit it…I read Twilight. I couldn’t help myself. I devoured the Anne Rice vampire series many years ago and was eager to return to the land of the undead. This was not my first foray into the Young Adult (YA) section. I could not help picking up Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith (how can anybody resist that title?) It is a great story with a unique viewpoint and the basis for a very good movie as well. I recommend it to lots of people and they often look at me as if I am joking. Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson broke my heart as did Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein both tales about ordinary young people during extraordinary times. Wonder by R. J. Palacio and Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper were each recommended to me by elementary school students. Both books focus on children who deal with physical limitations but remind you that there is more to a person than what you see.