kennebunk book port

The Kennebunk Book Port bookstore in Kennebunkport, Maine is a great, privately owned, old world bookstore. Its tucked in on the second floor, over a fancy gift emporium, in what used to be a rum warehouse. You walk between the weather beaten, clapboard dock buildings, and up a set of stairs to a large porch which looks out over a small inlet of the Kennebunk River, which splits Kennebunkport from Kennebunk lower village.

Like many of the stores in Dock Square, the building is old, and the old wooden floors, walls and framing are left exposed. The shelving is made in the same rough wood to match. There is a desk in the middle of the floor, close to a steel spiral staircase to the upper level (the attic), and there is a couch for reading by the big window which looks out over the square.

[Screeach!] That, my dear friends, was the sound of me dragging the needle off the record of the serenade I was just singing to you about this bookstore. I (Just Now!) went looking for their web site so I could provide you with the link, and found that they have moved since I was there last. So, forget all that. It was great when I was there, you can check out the new location for yourself and let me know.

I had a chat with the proprietor when I was there last, and he was asking what kind of books I read, and recommended a book for me: The Beast God Forgot to Invent, by Jim Harrison. This is a collection of 3 short stories that are very well written about some edges-of-humanity kind of folks. I liked it a lot.

children of dune

Well, I finished it. Children of Dune, is the third installment of the Dune Chronicles series by Frank Herbert. I think he intended it to be the last of the series but there are three more, which I mentioned in my review of the last book, Dune Messiah. I felt like Dune Messiah was a bridge to this book, and now that I've read it, I think it was. It was a good story on its own, but this one was even better. A lot of the careful planning that went into this saga is revealed in this third volume, in a very satisfying way. The plots were more well thought out than I had anticipated, both the plots in the books and the plotting of the characters.

The Children of Dune are the twin son and daughter of Paul Atreides, Muad'Dib, of the first story. The twins were introduced in the second book, and this story is about them, and how they move the story of the House Atreides forward into the future. And man, do they!

When Paul Atreides stepped outside the norm, to become Muad'Dib, I thought that was some funky stuff going on. But what the twins do, and especially the male twin: Wow. That's some wacky stuff, but fun and really thoughtful. I can imagine how you can get three more stories out of that. Okay, maybe I'll just peek at them at the library.

mark skinner library

The Mark Skinner Library in Manchester, Vermont is a beautiful library in a truly beautiful town. Manchester sits in the valley east of Mount Equinox (altitude 3848 ft.), and the mountain views surround the town. The town is home to The Equinox, a lovely old world inn, the Northshire Bookstore, and lots of shopping outlets, spas, golf, and foliage in the autumn.

This lovely little book was printed for the July 7, 1897 opening of the new Mark Skinner Library, and given out to the guests and attendees. I was presented with this copy by the director of the library as a gift for traveling to see her, and her library, as we prepared our proposal for the design services for their much needed additions and renovations project. The official title of little volume appears to be "The Opening of the Mark Skinner Library". Google has actually scanned this volume, see it here.

This book is essentially a program, and a record of the day's events for the grand opening celebration. The book was printed by R. R. Donnelley and Sons at the Lakeside Press, Chicago, under the supervision of Herbert S. Stone and Company. The book is cloth bound in green linen, measures 7-inches by 4 1/2-inches, with 71 pages. The head bolts are unopened and the leaves have a fore-edge deckle. A number of black and white photo plates are pasted into the body. The plates include: a portrait of Mark Skinner, with an image of his signature and the words 'Yours Truly' beneath, various photographs of the building's interior and exterior, and a plan of the main floor.

The building was actually built by Frances Skinner Willing, in memory of her father, Mark Skinner, and has actually spend most of its history as a private, subscription library. Only since 2003 have the Manchester voters have supported the library, in part, making it more of a public library, as we traditionally think of them. In addition to Frances Skinner Willing's generous gift, the library has also received two other substantial donations in its past, from two separate, unmarried women. Sounds like a wonderful tradition.

dune messiah

Dune Messiah, by Frank Herbert is the second book in Herbert's original trilogy. Dune Messiah felt, in a lot of ways, like the middle book in a trilogy; by the time I finished it I felt like the bridge between the first book, and what comes next, was built here.

In the introduction, Herbert's son Brian Herbert, says as much, and complains about faithful readers of the first book, being short sighted in their views of his father's efforts in the second installment of the Dune series. It's also clear that the younger Herbert both loves and looks up to his father, saying of him, "If he had been a politician, he would have been an honorable one, perhaps even one of our greatest presidents." Brian Herbert also wrote a biography of his late father, entitled Dreamer of Dune.

I'm pretty sure I read Dune when I was a teenager as well, but the politics were beyond me and I didn't read any of the other books. I've read it again, but it's been over a year and probably longer since, but the story came back as I read through this second adventure on the desert planet. 12 years has past since the end of that story if I remember correctly, but I also remember that some of the ages of the characters didn't seem to add up to what thought they should be, so I've got something wrong. I'll tell you what I don't understand, and that's why a better movie couldn't be made from these books. It's seems ripe; but that silly thing with Sting, come on. And wasn't there another one with that dude from Twin Peaks that was on TV a few years ago? Maybe I'm getting them mixed up.

Anyway, the story is short, fast, fun and surprisingly deep. There are all kinds of things going on in this story, and Herbert expects his readers to keep up. That faith he has in us, to follow the complex web of interconnected politics, religion, war, drugs, ecology, love, jealously, economics, family ties, and all the conflicting pressures they place on the leaders in this story, is what I think makes Herbert so popular with his readers.

Herbert went on to write some more books in the Dune series: God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune. Brian Herbert has also taken up the mantle and has written some Dune books as well, like twelve or thirteen of them! All I have is the original trilogy. I've just started on the last: Children of Dune, and I think I'll see how that goes before getting into anything further.

south hadley

The South Hadley Public Library was built in 1906 with a $10,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie. Located in the southern part of town knows at the Falls, the original building was designed by a local resident who worked for Putnam & Cox. The building is a typical Carnegie library T-shaped design, which is normally: a central entry hall and two wings (which make up the cross portion of the T), and a stack wing poking out the back (the vertical bit or tail of the T). But due to the very narrow, tapering shape of the site, the T-shape was turned around, and symmetrical entries were located at the inside corners, at the joints in the T-shape. This means the tail of the T faces forward, and instead of housing the stacks, this is the front, with a large bay window, opening onto the reading room.

In the 70s, a large addition was put on, but due to local budget constraints, was not sized to meet the 20 year need--as is the norm with pubic library design--but cut in half to meet the 10 year need. The library is extremely busy and well used by the residents. South Hadley is right across the Connecticut River from Holyoke, and as a suburb, has a large population. South Hadley is also home to Mount Holyoke College, which may help to explain the large computer use in the library.

My office was just selected to assist the library with a feasibility study and an application to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners Construction Grant program.

There is another public library in town, the Gaylord Memorial Library, located in the north part of town, across the street from Mount Holyoke. The Gaylord Library actually predates the Carnegie Library, and is (I think) privately held by a corporation, and open to the public.

the story of libraries i

I've been pounding through Fred Lerner's The Story of Libraries: From the Invention of Writing to the Computer Age for a few week now; interesting but not riveting is how I'd put it. Some books just can't be put down, while others can, and are. I'm not finding fault mind you. The material is interesting, but this is, after all, a history book, about a subject that I am interested in, but nevertheless, its a little dusty at the beginning.

The story starts, as the subtitle suggests, with speculation about the earliest forms of writing, which no longer exist, and then moves on to cuneiform tablets, of which many examples still exist. Amazingly, these tablets were stood on end, packed tight together, and the ends held simple index data so information could be retrieved. Many of these tablets contain state information such as records of sales, rules and regulations, etc. These early 'libraries' sound more like files to me, although there are some examples of story-like information being recorded on multiple tablets, that could therefore be considered 'books'. So, like I said, interesting.

I'm a little past the halfway point, and we're just beginning to get into the advent of what we would consider the modern public library. I was interested to learn that earlier libraries were opened to the 'public' but only some of the public. Another fun fact: what really happened to the library at Alexandria? No, I'm not going to tell you, you'll just have to read it.

More later!

beijing 2008

A simple tilt to the left or right, alternates the picture between the text and logo, and photos of athletes doing their stuff, and getting there rewards. I'm so easily amused. There are more amazing ways to use those little plastic corduroys that coat these shifty little images, by the two image switch is the old stand-by. Reminds me of Cracker Jack.

Lenticular lens images can do all kinds of stuff, from slowly morphing one image into another, to layering, giving a three dimensional effect, to moving images as the substrate is tilted. I've got one other lenticular image bookmark, which I got at the ALA Midwinter, 2010 conference in Boston. I made collage of the bookmarks I got there, and the lenticular is at the bottom left; its from Watson Label Products.

I didn't see much of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. We haven't had a television for a number of years, and that's one of the things I miss. The official website for Beijing 08 is still up! Usain Bolt from Jamaica was the big story, running the 100 meters a few tenths faster than his own record, winning the gold medal is 9.69 seconds. I do remember seeing that race.

how to train your dragon

How to Train Your Dragon, by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, translated from the Old Norse by Cressida Cowell, is of course, the book on which the recent movie of the same name is based. I've had this book in the house for a couple of years. I bought it thinking my son might like to read it, or have me read it to him, but I think he felt that it was too young for him. Now that he's seen the movie, maybe he'll change his mind.

Seeing the movie is what made me pull this book out again. I had read the first chapter or so when I bought it, and didn't remember the story starting the way the movie did. (No spoilers from me, except for the hard core folks who are thinking; Hey man, telling me they're different is a spoiler. If you're that, guy, this review isn't for you.) Anyway, I read through the whole thing, and you can see the parts that inspired the movie, but its pretty loose. I don't think you could even have an effective was-the-book-better-than-the-movie conversation, they are so disparate. That's not a bad thing. Your grandma, and my grandma may both make chicken soup, and the only ingredients they share may be the chicken, but both soups can still be good, right?

That's the case, here. I enjoyed both the book and the movie. Stories of a boy growing up, and trying to live up to the expectations of those around him, even if those expectations seem higher and grander than he could ever achieve. You know, even with dragons.

This book is obviously aimed at the younger end of the young adult market, but makes for a fun read. I think it would be perfect to read to a 8 or 9 year old, but maybe not in too a close proximity to the movie, as they are so different.

flyte

Septimus Heap, Book Two: Flyte, by Angie Sage, was a pretty good follow up to Magyk. My son and I finished it last night. I had to go back and look because it seems like its been a long time since we read the first book. Check it out, it was the end of January. I think the reason is because he didn't enjoy it as much as the first one, and certainly not as much as the Nicholas Flamel series we were reading before. He just didn't ask me to read to him as often.

So Septimus, of course, figures large in this story, but what made the first story sweet, was lacking in this episode. It was more young kids, having adventures, doing magic (sorry, Magyk) growing up, learning new things, and narrowly avoiding various and sundry horrible deaths. Good, clean fun, certainly, but we've done this in the first book. There were some new things, I'm not complaining, some things were fun, and interesting, but neither of us felt compelled to pick up the book and keep reading.

Many of the characters from the first book return in Flyte, but not all, and some have much smaller parts than they did, but I have a feeling they may be back in later stories. Septimus has some new friends too, which adds some depth. A year has gone by since the last episode, and so life has changed for Septimus and his friends; they're a year older, more mature, and their responsibilities, in many cases, have increased to keep pace with their age. I assume this yearly progression will continue into the other stories, and we'll watch Septimus and his friends grow up, and have more adult adventures as they get older, similar to Harry Potter's story arc.

The next episode is Book Three: Physik, I imagine that we'll pick it up at the library at some point, but I don't think we're in a big hurry. Maybe we'll read something else in the meantime.