Friends of the Jones Library System News

In summer, when you're wearing fewer clothes and covering up less, you have the opportunity to show the world just how bookish you really are.  Bookish and hip. Need a temporary book tattoo?  This book how-to one is from Etsy .   Or you could just whip out your trusty Sharpie and channel your inner book-loving artist.

Just in case you've been caught flat-footed and haven't read  all  the English works of literature out there, the Friends are ready to help you out. Check out Every English Novel Ever and sound truly highbrow at your next cocktail party. You're welcome.

Sign up for the Jones Library Adult Summer Reading Program and BANG!  YOU COULD WIN AN ENTIRE BAG OF BOOKS!!!  And not just any  books.  We're talking the Massachusetts Book Award folks' Must-Read 2014 List.  And those folks know their books. Want more info on the Jones Library Adult Summer Reading Program?   Click here! Want to see a list of all the terrific looking MA Must-Read 2014 books?  Click here! Want to learn all the lyrics to the Game of Thrones theme song?   Click here!

Maybe you'll need some books to put you in the mood.  Here's a list of ten children's books  featuring planes, trains, automobiles, boats, and sometimes a mixture of all of those!

Wednesday, July 23, 2-3:30 p.m. Woodbury Room of the Jones Library Children will have the opportunity to enter Nile, a 43-foot inflatable replica of a humpback whale, and handle whale-related artifacts.   Click here to learn more . REGISTRATION REQUIRED  (413) 259-3090 For children ages 5-10.   This event is being sponsored by the Friends of the Jones Library System.  (As are so many good things in life.)

Did you know the Jones Library recently received a $50,000 planning and design grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners?  Yay staff of Jones Library!  Yay Director Sharon Sharry! If you want to read more, here's the library's application .  You can tell so much effort and energy went into that application. The Friends have some suggestions as to how the New-and-Improved Jones could look.  They're probably pretty simple, inexpensive, and quick. Just a suggestion... Love, Your Friends

Think you know food?  Think you know literature?   Take this online quiz to test your mastery of both, brought to you by The Guardian of the UK.  Bon appetit et bonne chance!

Clear the way to put more books on those shelves!  And on those nightstands!  And beside those barcaloungers!  And in the boxes in the basement! (Click on image to enlarge.)

Even you , dear literary lover of the Friends, probably can't remember a word every once in a while.  And then you're stuck trying to describe the elusive thing using other, less accurate words.  Frustrating, isn't it? Your good friends here at the Friends feel your pain.  And we just learned about the OneLook Reverse Dictionary .  This, dear Friend, will make everything better. Now if only they could come up with one for book titles....

...we've got it for you. The folks in the village where much of the hit show is filmed just got a  £ 20,000 donation from the Downton Abbey production company.  And the money?  Oh, it's just going to save the local library . The Friends of the Jones Library highly suspects the Dowager Countess of Grantham may have had a hand in this donation.

(Click on image to enlarge.  A little bit.)

The Blue Marble 191 North Pleasant Street           15% of all purchases made at  The Blue Marble  on June 10th  will be donated to us, the Friends of the Jones Library System, to aid them in their wonderful work of enriching our community. Hope to see you at  The Blue Marble !

In case you missed Walter Dean Myers's op-ed in the Sunday NY Times a couple months ago, it's right here .  Myers questions where racial diversity is in children's books.  He writes, "Books transmit values.  They explore our common humanity.  What is the message when some children are not represented in those books?" Food for thought.

You know that book you've checked out of the library multiple times now?  You've even checked it out on your card for someone else?  You've proselytized about it to friends and neighbors?  You know right where it is on the shelf at the library? If you want to, need to, and simply must own it, click here to find  a list of independent booksellers  near you who might have it. Because while the Friends, too, are book lovers, pilfering library books IS frowned upon.

Or old CD players that you used to listen to books on CD?  Or hey, what about that Sony Sport Walkman sitting on a shelf in your basement?  Bring all that stuff (plus your old dehumidifier and weed wacker) to Crocker Farm Saturday, June 14, from 9-1.  We'll recycle it all for you (for a small fee).   Spring cleaning never was so easy! (click on image to enlarge)

Da Sola: With a Finger to the Wind Travel Stories in Word & Picture Saturday, June 7 2:30 p.m. Woodbury Room of the Jones Library Intent on revisiting Italy and improving her language skills, Laura Bellusci spent most of two summers traveling by train up and down the Italian peninsula, Sicily, and the surrounding Aeolian Islands. A budget traveler, she stayed at hotels with “no stars,” rented rooms in private homes, and was hosted with families through an international peace organization. Along the way, she filled several journals with wonders big and small—climbing the fiery volcano on Stromboli in twilight, or enjoying the wonders of a shimmery black sand beach. Laura admits “da sola travel” has many benefits but all the (inherent) challenges, and some dangers. It’s also the stuff of adventure … of putting a finger to the wind, never quite sure what’s around the next curve in the road. She hopes you will join her as she recounts stories, told with accompanyin...

"We don't want you to read the books," they said, "but we are letting you decide for yourself. You're 15 now, and we respect your ability to choose. From now on, what you read is your decision, and whatever you do, we'll still love you and trust you."   With those words, Jessica Khoury's parents launched their daughter.  In this NPR piece , Khoury shares her first experience reading a book unacceptable to her community.

Don't forget to swing by The Blue Marble next Tuesday, June 10th. The Friends of the Jones Library will receive 15% of all purchases that day. You'll be supporting a local business AND a local non-profit all at once!  Woot!!

...then this post probably hits close to home. Own it and be proud of it, you Book Nerd, you.