January 2012 Archives

Don't forget, you can follow Greenwich Library on Twitter @GWLibrary or find us on Facebook by searching Greenwich Library.

Gamers Unite at Greenwich Library! 

Greenwich Gamers are invited to come play at Greenwich Library on Saturday, January 28 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Meeting Room. This month's Gaming Day will feature a bevy of board games and a variety of video games to engage players young and old.

Along with chess, checkers, Legos and other fun standbys, there will also be video games for Xbox 360 and Wii, including Blur, Mario Kart and LEGO Star Wars.

Newbies, old-school, mid-core and hard-core games are welcome. Snacks will be served.

Greenwich Library's Gaming Day is made possible through the support of the Greenwich Library Board of Trustees and contributions by generous donors.  For more information, contact Nicole Allen at (203) 625-6523 or Everett Perdue at (203) 625-6507.

You can always follow Greenwich Library on Twitter @GWLibrary or find us on Facebook by searching Greenwich Library.

Sally Bedell Smith was a guest of AuthorsLive@GreenwichLibrary on January 12, 2012 to discuss her new biography, Elizabeth the Queen.

Greenwich Library will offer extended hours to accommodate high school students during midterm exam weeks.

The Main Library will remain open until 11 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17, and Wednesday, January 18, to coincide with the private school schedule, and on Tuesday, January 24 and Wednesday, January 25 for the public school schedule. The Library will be open primarily for the students, but anyone can use the facility during these extended hours.

The Library Café will extend its hours until 9:00 p.m., and students can purchase study break snacks. Library staff will be available to assist with reference questions.

"This is the third time Greenwich Library has extended its hours for students during exam weeks, and we hope that they will once again take advantage of the additional time to prepare for their tests," said Carol Mahoney, Greenwich Library Director.

You can follow Greenwich Library on Twitter @GWLibrary or find us on Facebook by searching Greenwich Library.

Greenwich Library will partner with SCORE and the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce to offer a three-part Business SMARTS series starting Tuesday, January 24 at 7:30 a.m. in the Cole Auditorium.

The first session, Websites 3.0: Your 24-hour business, will discuss the next generation of websites and the ideas business are putting together to generate more revenue. Presenter Pam Barnet will address what you need to now and how to plan for the future, as well as outline website basics, ecommerce integration, design and more. Barnet has been developing websites since 1992 ranging from simple brochures to ecommerce shopping and complex web applications.

The fee is $15 and registration is required. Visit SCORE to reserve your space. For more information, please contact Mary Cuff at (203) 625-6560.

Mark your calendar for the next sessions:

Wednesday, February 8 - Website Marketing Strategies and Social Media Integration

Tuesday, February 21 - Optimizing Your Website and Investment Using Google Analytics and SEO

AuthorsLive@GreenwichLibrary was pleased to welcome Jennifer Homans on January 19, 2012. at 7 p.m. Homans, historian and dance critic for the New Republic, spoke about her book, Apollo's Angels, Tthe History of Ballet.

Homans, a former professional dancer, spent a decade researching and writing this richly drawn story of the evolution of ballet from its origins to the present. Drawing on extensive archival research and interviews conducted in Paris, Copenhagen, London, New York, St. Petersburg and Moscow, Homans shows that ballet was not only artistic, but political: bound up with the fate of kings, courts and states.

Click here to see photos from the event.

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to finally join a book club, you're in luck! Greenwich Library has a whopping nine book clubs among its libraries.Join a club to meet new people, be exposed to new ideas, and stretch your literary horizons. We're confident you'll find one to fit your interests.

The Selective Eye Book Club meets monthly on the second Tuesday afternoon. Selective Eye has been compared to a college literary course: for the first half, professional facilitator Susan Boyar gives a brief lecture about the book, and the second half is dedicated to a group discussion. The structure of the club is informal: some come to listen, some come to talk, and some will actually do both.

Books read this year include a mix of classic and contemporary authors: The Master by Colm Toibin; The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James; God on the Rocks by Jane Gardam and 2010's Pulitzer Prize winner A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. Upcoming books will include Swamplandia by Karen Russell in February; and Room by Emma Donaghue in March. The next meeting is Tuesday, January 10 at 1 p.m. in the Meeting Room on the second floor. The book to be discussed is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. No advance registration is required, so just drop in and join the club.

Other book clubs will meet in January as well:

Great Books Discussion Group will meet on Thursday, January 5 at 9:30 a.m. in the Jewel. The book for January is The Bell by Iris Murdoch and the reading for February is Rothschild's Fiddle by Anton Chekhov. For more information please call John Caron at (203) 661-2907.

The Foreign Affairs Book Club will meet on Tuesday, January 17 at 7 p.m. in the Meeting Room on the second floor. The book to read in January and February is The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World by Daniel Yergin. For more information, please call Yang Wang at (203) 622-7924.

Bookworms Club, for children in grades 2 and 3 who are reading independently, will meet on Wednesday, January 11 at 4 p.m. in the Meeting Room on the second floor. Join them for a book discussion, fun activities and a snack. Register and pick up a copy of the book at the Children's Room desk. For more information, call (203) 622-7940, or visit the website and click on the Children's Program tab.

Junior Book Club, for students in grades 4-6 will meet on Thursday, January 5 at 4:30 p.m. in the Meeting Room on the second floor. Register and pick up a copy of the book at the Children's Room desk. For more information, please call (203) 622-7940, or visit the website and click on the Children's Program tab.

Middle School Book Club will meet on Thursday, January 26 at 4:30 p.m. in the Meeting Room on the second floor. Visit the second floor reference desk to register and pick up a copy of the book. For more information, contact Margaret Walsh, (203) 622-7915, or visit the website and click on the Children's Program tab.

The Cos Cob Library hosts three book clubs:

Thursday Evening Book Club will meet on January 5 at 7:30 p.m. to discuss Old Filth by Jane Gardam. Suzie Carter facilitates this popular monthly book club which discusses current fiction and non-fiction books of interest.

Mystery Lovers Book Club will kick off its fourth season on Saturday, January 14 at 1 p.m. with The Lady In the Lake by Raymond Chandler. This is a fun book club whose members meet monthly to discuss various whodunits. The facilitator is Shubha Phansalkar.

Brown Bag Book Club will meet on Wednesday, January 18 at 12 p.m. to discuss The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer. Susan Boyer facilitates this long-running book club. Pack a lunch, grab a friend and join the discussion!

Don't forget, you can follow Greenwich Library on Twitter @GWLibrary or find us on Facebook by searching Greenwich Library.

Soar on the Wings of a brilliant guitarist! The Peterson Concert Series is pleased to present two-time Grammy-winner Laurence Juber, on Sunday, January 15th at 3:30 p.m. in the Cole Auditorium.

Juber won his first Grammy as the lead guitarist for Paul McCartney's Wings. As a world-renowned guitar virtuoso, composer and arranger Juber has released 19 acclaimed solo albums and his arrangement of The Pink Panther garnered Laurence his second Grammy.

Juber earned a degree in music from London University where he studied classical guitar and lute. He put a successful studio career on hold to join Paul McCartney's post-Beatles effort, Wings, as its lead guitarist. After Wings disbanded, Juber moved to the United States where he has worked as a studio musician and played for numerous television shows and movies, including the original soundtrack to the recent documentary Children of the Harvest.

The San Francisco Chronicle has said that Juber "gloriously articulates the melody and never succumbs to show off playing... His playing is just short of sleight of hand and like all magicians, he makes it seem effortless."

The Peterson Concert Series is free and open the all through the support of the Peterson Foundation.

As the inaugural performer of the Ashforth Children's Concert Series, cellist Eddie Arron holds a special place in the hearts of the Greenwich Library community. We are thrilled to welcome him back for his third visit, once again with his wife, the pianist Jeewon Park.

On January 22nd at 2pm in the Cole auditorium, they will perform a child-friendly array of classical duets for cello and piano, discuss their instruments, and take questions from the audience.

Jennifer Homans, author of Apollo's Angels, A History of Ballet, named one of the "10 Best Books" in 2010 by the New York Times Book Review, will speak at Greenwich Library on January 19 at 7 p.m. in the Meeting Room as part of the AuthorsLive@GreenwichLibrary series. Diane's Books will provide books for sale and signing.

Homans, an historian and dance critic for the New Republic, as well as a former professional ballerina, will discuss her critically acclaimed book, Apollo's Angels, A History of Ballet. Over the course of a decade Homans researched and wrote this richly drawn story of the evolution of ballet from its origins to the present. Drawing on extensive archival research and interviews conducted in Paris, Copenhagen, London, New York, St. Petersburg and Moscow, Apollo's Angels shows that ballet was not only artistic, but political: bound up with the fate of kings, courts and states.

AuthorsLive@GreenwichLibrary is pleased to present New York Times best-selling author Sally Bedell Smith to speak at Greenwich Library on January 12 at 7 p.m. in the Cole Auditorium, to discuss her newest biography, Elizabeth the Queen.

In a magisterial new biography, New York Times bestselling author Sally Bedell Smith brings to life one of the world's most fascinating and enigmatic women: Queen Elizabeth II.

From the moment of her ascension to the throne in 1952 at the age of twenty-five, Queen Elizabeth II has been the object of unparalleled scrutiny. But through the fog of glamour and gossip, how well do we really know the world's most famous monarch?

Drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before-revealed documents, acclaimed biographer Sally Bedell Smith pulls back the curtain to show in intimate detail the public and private lives of Queen Elizabeth II, who has led her country and Commonwealth through the wars and upheavals of the last sixty years with unparalleled composure, intelligence, and grace.

Compulsively readable and scrupulously researched, Elizabeth the Queen is a close-up view of a woman we've known only from a distance, illuminating the lively personality, sense of humor, and canny intelligence with which she meets the most demanding work and family obligations. It is also a fascinating window into life at the center of the last great monarchy.