Waterstones bookshop has sleepovers

Would it be a dream come true to spend the night in a bookstore?  Did you read "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" wishing it weren't non-fiction?  Well then, dear Friend, British mega-bookstore Waterstones has a deal for you!

Yet another thing to thank American tourists for.  

After the fanny pack.

Guess which country...

...publishes more books than any other country in the world (per million inhabitants)?  We're talking 20 new titles every hour.  Go on.  Guess...

Think you know?  Click here, smarty.

Carving a pumpkin in the next day or two?

Here's some inspiration.

John Clayton at the Jones Library

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

7 pm

Woodbury Room

Local author John J. Clayton will speak and read from his new book Many Seconds into the Future, a collection of short stories, published by Texas Tech University Press in April 2014.

The probing short stories in this collection explore spiritual and emotional growth, coming of age, and the impact of death in a family. The stories “Many Seconds into the Future” and “All the Children are Isaac” are tragic; others like “The Name Changer” are comic. Many of the stories were originally published in Commentary, Notre Dame Review, Sewanee Review, Missouri Review, and The Journal.

John J. Clayton, born and raised in New York City, taught modern literature and fiction writ­ing as Professor and then Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and as Visiting Professor at Mt. Holyoke College and Hampshire College. He lives with his wife in Western Massachusetts and Cape Cod.

Free and open to the public.  For more information, please contact Janet Ryan at413/259-3223.

The Hobbit in 72 seconds

Sure JRR Tolkien was a master of his craft.  Sure The Hobbit is an amazing read.  But really, who has the time to read all 300 or so pages??  There are so many other things that need to be done in life! The Friends have found a video to help check one more thing off your to-do list.

"Read The Hobbit"?  DONE!

You're welcome.

For the grammarian in your life

The Friends know it's getting close to the holidays.  In addition to doing much of your shopping at the FRIENDS USED BOOK SALE on SATURDAY NOVEMBER 15th FROM 9-3 (mark your calendars), you can round off your gift purchasing with a few of these babies.

Because who doesn't need an ampersand cheese board?

Free For All

Watch this.  It's the best 3:36 minutes you'll spend today.

For all you English nerds out there

And you know who you are, you will totally like this.  The secret emotional lives of five punctuation marks.

There's more to the . than meets the i.

It was a hot and muggy night...

...in a city that already was already feverish.  The fan in my office just blew hot air around a hot room on a hot night.  It was the kind of night where every booze party ends in a fight.  A night where anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.  She walked into my office and from 30 feet away she looked like she had a lot of class. From 10 feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from 30 feet away.

A fan of Raymond Chandler?  Here's a fun time-waster for you.  A map of Raymond Chandler's fictional LA in real LA.

If any part of LA is real...

Hey! All you tree huggers!

Have you been pining for a nature-themed book group?  Yew don't need to look any further!  The Friends of the Jones has some re-leaf to offer you.  We've got a new book club to offer that's sure to be poplar.  Wood we lead you astray?

Announcing our newest adult book club:  The Nature & Environment Book Club!

First Meeting:

Thursday, November 6, 2014

7-9 pm

Goodwin Room

In this club, we will read and have lively discussions about historical and contemporary books; fiction as well as non-fiction. The club will meet on the first Thursday of the month from 7-9 pm (except for January, when it will meet on the 8^th because of the holiday), and will be moderated by Ellen X. Silverberg, an avid amateur naturalist, photographer, and educator. 

For the kick-off meeting, we will discuss Walden, by Henry David Thoreau (any edition). Copies are available to borrow at the reference desk.

For more information, please contact Jones Library staff member Linda Wentworth at wentworthl@joneslibrary.org.

Sorry if we were barking up the wrong tree with all the puns.

Amherst Ballet Company at the Jones

The Jones Library presents dancers from the AMHERST BALLET CO. performing excerpts from the classic fairy tale CINDERELLA in the Woodbury Room at the Jones Library on Saturday, October 25 at 11 a.m.

Totally. Free.

And if "ballet" and "free" doesn't start your toes tappin', we give up.

The Hanging Judge

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

7pm

Woodbury Room

Join us as local author Michael Ponsor speaks and reads from his new book The Hanging Judge in the Woodbury Room of the Jones Library.  The Hanging Judge was selected as one of the Must Read Books at the 2014 Massachusetts Book Awards.

The Hanging Judge is a thriller set in Western Massachusetts.  The 2014 Massachusetts Book Awards Must-Read Book list describes the novel like this:

A drug dealer and a hockey mom/nurse are killed in drive-by shooting in Holyoke, and a rival gang member is arrested as the prime suspect.  When the case is moved to federal court so that the prosecutors can seek the death penalty, a judge who has served only two years on the bench must preside over his trial.  With a colorful cast of primary and secondary characters, this legal thriller is told from the unique perspective of the presiding judge and is based on the author's own experience.

Michael Ponsor graduated from Harvard, received a Rhodes Scholarship, and studied for two years at Pembroke College, Oxford. After taking his law degree from Yale and clerking in federal court in Boston, he began his legal career, specializing in criminal defense. He moved to Amherst, Massachusetts in 1978, where he practiced as a trial attorney in his own firm until his appointment in 1984 as a U.S. magistrate judge in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed him a life-tenured US district judge. From 2000 to 2001, he presided over a five-month death penalty trial, the first in Massachusetts in over fifty years. Judge Ponsor continues to serve as a senior U.S. district judge in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Western Division, with responsibility for federal criminal and civil cases in the four counties of western Massachusetts. The Hanging Judge is his first novel.

Free and open to the public.  For more information, please contact Janet Ryan at 413/259-3223.

All Legos, all the time at your house?

Then you need to come to the Jones tomorrow.  The next meeting of the Jones Library's Lego Club will be on Saturday, October 11, at 3 pm in the Woodbury Room.

The word of the day will be "traverse.”  The challenge will be to build a bridge into your fantasy world. 

For more information, please call the Children's Room or email Theresa Atteridge atatteridget@joneslibrary.org.

Happy building!

Gearing up for Halloween

Choosing a costume is very important.   We recommend this year you go with a literary theme.

Too beautiful to eat?

These book-inspired cakes are incredible.  If you feel inspired to whip something up in the kitchen after scrolling through these beauties, share a slice with some Friends, would you?

If your life were a children's book...

...which one would it be?

Think you know "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?"

Think again.

Dog lovers, this post's for you

If the titles and authors of any of these books appeal to you, then the Jones has a book group right up your alley.  Click here to learn more about the Dog Lovers Book Club.

Just food for thought

Amazon says lots of Hachette titles are out of stock or on pre-order.  Except for a book by one particular Hachette author...

P.S. Hagiography means a book about someone's life that makes it seem better than it really is or was.  Think saints.

P.P.S.  We had to look that one up.

In this busy, busy world

Maybe you're too busy to read all the books you ought to?  That's okay!  You can spend a couple of hours in front of the tv and watch these 10 Great Banned Books Adaptations.

Too busy to spend a couple of hours watching tv?  That's okay!  You can read these: 11 Contemporary Novels, Summarized in 140 Characters or Fewer.

Too busy to read Tweets?  Oy.  You really need a vacation.

Kissability

Tomorrow, Thursday, October 2

7 pm

Woodbury Room of the Jones Library

Book Launch & Reading

Katherine Duke will read from her new nonfiction book, Kissability: People with Disabilities Talk About Sex, Love, and Relationships.

Free and open to the public.

The Jones Library is wheelchair-accessible.

Co-sponsored by Levellers Press and the Jones Library.

Is it Hemmingway...

...or is it a children's book?  You be the judge.