Stay Tuned for Next Week's Blog

How many of you know what this is a picture of?  A sewing cabinet where needles and threads are stored, a cabinet with drawers full of a dentist's instruments of pain, or maybe a jewelry or crafts storage cabinet? Or....  I think you will be surprised to learn the story of this very special cabinet next week.  Hint:  It had magical powers when I was a child and it still does today, only of a different kind.

The Library Blog Mistress needs your help!  She can only read so many books a week and needs book reviewers to write a short paragraph on their favorite books they have read this summer.  Please contact me at libraryblogmistress@gmail.com if you would like submit a book review and see your name on the library's blog.

Summer Reading Club 2011

The Haltom City Public Library’s Summer Reading Club 2011 is in its 4^th week.  While the kickoff and registration was on May 28^th, there is still plenty of time to register and start filling out your reading logs.  (I hear there are going to be prizes too!) We have until 8:00 p.m., July 13^th before we have to turn in our reading logs. When I came into the library tonight to pick up some books on hold, Allison Long wowed me with the number of participants that have registered so far:  818!  Now that’s a lot of folks, young and not so young, reading.  What a better way to honor the Haltom City Public Library Turning 50 and enjoy the hot Texas summer by digging up a good book to read?   Not being one who likes to feel left out, I immediately picked up my registration form so that my reading hours can be counted too.  So now the count is 819! Let’s see if we can get 900 summer reading club members for 2011!  Won’t that be a grand party if all 800-900 of us turn out for the library's Summer Reading Finale on Friday, July 15^th at 2:00 p.m.?

Shelby, my rescue dog, is a reader too and she wants everyone to know that Iris Johansen’s bestselling book, EVE, is a “keep-the-dogs-up-all- night” book.   This psychological action-packed mystery starts off with a bang literally in the first two sentences in Chapter 1.  "Two minutes.  The explosive was in place….”  The book flap states that with the help of her best friend, CIA agent Catherine Ling, Eve is finally close to finding the man who kidnapped and murdered her young daughter years ago.  Yet, there is much more to this story:  two teenager lovers who separate then are reunited by their past, their magical daughter, Bonnie, who comes to them in their dreams, and their search for Bonnie’s murderer. Interwoven throughout the story is also the power of friendship between two women and the love of a husband who must fight to keep his marriage intact and his wife, Eve, safe from her first love, John Gallo, a professional killer. 

Hard to Choose Just Three

I hope that everyone got to read Bob Ray Sanders’s column in yesterday’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram for several reasons.  One, he’s one of my favorite columnists.  Two, he’s a great supporter of libraries.  Three, this week he writes about one of his personal dilemmas: culling his list of favorite movies, books, and music down to three per category for the Fort Worth Library’s annual Summer Reading Challenge.   Judging by all of the titles that he listed as some of his favorites, he has quite a bit of work left to do to get to the three finalists. (And no, I’m not telling you what any of the titles are – you need to read his column for yourself.)   I wasn’t surprised that most of the movies he liked weren’t my favorites (it’s a guy vs. gal thing probably).  I expected our taste in books to be similar and I wasn't disappointed.  But I was totally surprised with his excellent taste in music.  He likes the same music and artists that I do!  

If you read his column, you know that he is going to be one of the four guest panelists for Haltom City Public Library’s upcoming August 4^th evening event, “The Songbird Still Sings: A Celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize Award for To Kill a Mockingbird".  In addition, he is going to be the panel moderator for the book discussion so it's no surprise that this book and the movie are on his ‘favorites’ list. 

I tried last tonight to compile my own list of my three most favorite books and I now understand Bob Ray Sanders’s dilemma.  Maybe if I could just raise the limit to ten or twenty, wait, maybe thirty if I counted my favorite childhood books, then maybe I could …..  Nope, can't do it. I’m either fickle or well-read.   I prefer to think I’m well-read.  I wish.  lol.  After much thought, I'd have to say my three favorite books are:  Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Atlas Shrugged.

So what are your three favorite books?  E-mail your three book titles to: libraryblogmistress@gmail.com and let’s find out what’s Haltom City’s three favorite books are.

Attention Haltom City readers and surrounding neighborhood readers!  I have a challenge for you, myself included.  There are three parts to it but I guarantee they will all be easy.  The hard work has already been done by the Haltom City Public Library’s 50th Anniversary Committee, other volunteers, and the library staff. 

The first part:  Our reading assignment for the summer is only one book.  A timeless classic, Pulitzer Prize winning novel that has sold over 30 million copies worldwide.  To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  You’ve already read it?  So have I, years ago.  It’s a book worthy of reading again and I don’t know about you, but I know that my perspective and insight has changed over the years so I’m eager to read it again with wiser eyes.  The deadline for completing our reading assignment is August 4^th.  (Please note that the book covers serious and mature themes.)

The second part:  Show up at the Haltom City Public Library at 7:00 sharp on August 4^th for “The Songbird Still Sings: A Celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize Award for To Kill a Mockingbird".  Expect an evening of stimulating and exhilarating panel discussions and dramatic readings.  I can promise you that we will not be disappointed, not with the caliber of guest panelists that they have somehow managed to obtain and the actors/actresses from the Artisan Center Theater doing the readings. 

The third part:  Come back to the library on Saturday, August 6, at 2:00 p.m., sit back, relax and enjoy the academy-award-winning film of the book, To Kill a Mockingbird.  (Please note that the film covers serious and mature themes.)

All three parts sound like fun, don’t they?  Then why the challenge?  Because I know from personal experience what an enormous task it is to plan such an event.  I know how difficult it can be to find and select the just-right guest panelists, then beg or bribe them to agree to be on the panel, coordinate everyone’s time and schedule, and then do the same for the dramatic readings.  The timings of the discussions, the dramatic readings, questions and answers sessions, how to publicize the event, etc.  all have to be decided. And then there's those hundred or so other little things that were almost forgotten that have to be tended to.  It takes hard work, dedication, and soul to pull off this type of grand event.  These good folks have done more than their fair share. 

Now’s it our turn.  Let’s not let them down.

Fondly, your library blog mistress

A Bit Spoiled? You Betcha!

The Haltom City Public Library always makes me feel so special.  They spoil me a tab bit too but I’m not complaining.  I like sitting back in my comfy desk chair and using my computer to screen shop through the current NY Times Best Sellers list for Fiction, Nonfiction and Advice books when I log onto the MetrOPAC Online Services that I accessed through the Haltom City Library’s website.

MetrOPAC is the combined catalog for Haltom City, Benbrook, Burleson, Fort Worth, Keller, Richland Hills, and Watauga. Books and movies found in their catalog may be transferred, upon request, to any library in the MetrOPAC system for resident cardholders to pick up.

Once I see a book or DVD that I want, I can request it from whichever city that has it on the shelf and it’s delivered to my library of choice, the Haltom City Public Library.  If I’m put on a waiting list, it tells me how many patrons are ahead of me.  I can check daily or weekly to see where I am at on the waiting list if I want to, but I don’t really need to because, get this, I get a phone call when my book is ready to be picked up!  How easy is that?  And this is the really unbelievable part—if I’m in a hurry or have a lot of books to pick up or it’s raining, all I have to do is call the library ahead of time and they will have my order ready to pick up at the drive-thru window.  I don’t even have to get out of my car if I don’t want to!   I haven’t used the drive-thru window yet because I personally like to go into the library and roam through the book displays to see if any additional books might catch my fancy.  Plus I like the big smiles I get whenever the librarians and staff assist me.  Like I said, they make me feel special.  But then, they do their best to make sure EVERY patron feels special and gets a tab bit spoiled.  So let's all go get spoiled!