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.

nerax 2010

What? No books? That's right baby, all play and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.

Last night, three of us traipsed off to the 14th annual New England Real Ale Exhibition at the George Dilboy VFW Post #529, in Somerville, put on each year by CASC (Cask-Conditioned Ale Support Campaign). This year, the four day exhibition has over 80 firkins of Real Ale, from England, Scotland, Wales, America, and one from Germany, which kicked before I got a chance to try it. All the beers are cask-conditioned, served by gravity or hand-pump, are naturally carbonated, and have live yeast in in the cask. The NERAX focuses on these Real Ales for the freshness and complexity of favors, and most are session beer with low alcohol content, so you can have a few without falling over.

Advanced tickets was the way to go. For other people. We waited in line. While in line, one of the organizers told us that the British Consul General came to the closed Brewer's Session earlier in the day, and made a speech, looking dapper in his perfect suit, and presumable tippled a bit himself. The guy who told us about it was pretty psyched.

It was $15 to get in this year and $5 for a glass deposit, which I surrendered upon leaving so I could take the glass with me. Its a 20-ounce Imperial (Nonic) pint glass, nicely screened with the NERAX logo, and marked for quarter and half pints along the side. I drank half pints of the ale I tried, although I didn't finish them all. Here's how it went for me:

Long Hammer IPA - Red Hook, Portsmouth, New Hampshire (ABV 6.5%)
You can get this ale in a bottle, and even on tap, even on tap at Cataqua Public House--which is in the Portsmouth brewery!--and it doesn't taste this good. (The Pub also serves a couple of cask conditioned brews, but Long Hammer was not on the offing when I was there.) Clean and citrusy on the nose, light and slightly cloudy in color, with a thin, wispy head, grapefruit start, light carbonation, wet and full mouthfeel, lingering bitter hop finish. Not as good as two years ago, but a great start for the night.

Old Engine Oil - Harviestoun, Alva, Clackmannanshire, Scotland (ABV 4.5%)
Strong molases aroma with yeasty background, light bitterness, smokey chocolate hops with hints of leather. Weak flavors overall, with a slight sourness, thin, airy head which left the glass very clean, strong brown-black color, and a fast finish.

Bargee - Elland Brewery, Elland, West Yorkshire, England (ABV 3.8%)
Powerful rising bread smell, sourdough bread flavor, thin, frothy head, creamy mouthfeel, amber color, slightly cloudy. All-in-all, not my favorite. I think the sourness was too much for me, it was a little like eating raw bread dough. I didn't finish this one.

Black Fly Stout - Gritty McDuff's, Portland, Maine (ABV 4.8%)
Scents of snow, malty, full and flavorful, light smokiness, brown-black color with a thin head that completely evaporated as it sat in my pocket while we chatted, I didn't love this beer, but I finished it. It had warmed in my pocket, and it was good warm, earthy, roasted finish.

Red Tuft - Sixpoint Brewing, Brooklyn, New York (ABV 5.0%)
Light aroma, crisp ESB snap with grapefruit skin bitterness, light hops, lemon highlights, very clean, very low carbonation, almost no head, refreshing, grapefruit finish. A nice way to end the night.

It was a fun night! If you didn't make it, you can still get over there today. Its five bucks cheaper and it runs from 12 to 7. NERAX North is this fall in Haverhill. Cheers!

the things they carried i

I'm reading Tim O'Brien's book of short stories about his time in Vietnam, The Things They Carried, which was written around 1990. I say around 1990, because its a series of short stories, some of which were published separately in Esquire. This book was selected by the Public Library in Somerville, Massachusetts for their 'Somerville Reads' program this spring, which has its kick off program this Sunday evening, at Arts at the Armory, in Somerville. Tim O'Brien is actually speaking tomorrow night at the First Parish Church Meetinghouse in Harvard Square, Cambridge at 7:00, in an unrelated event.

O'Brien's stories are written in a neat, but conversational tone. His stories remind me of the ones Uncle Russell tells after dinner: simple, true, funny, brutal, and real. Russell will often nod after the punchline, saying; that was life, that's was what it was like, or, what could you do? It was war, seems to be the message, and you did what you had to, and sometimes you did what you could, just to keep going, just to break the monotony or just to stay sane.

I've told myself that its because its a series of short stories that I can go ahead and start another book from my list, The Story of Libraries, by Fred Lerner, but that's not all of it. Its because I don't want to read these stories before I go to bed. Its not the horror, these stories are funny, touching, even sweet when O'Brien talks about his buddies and his wife. Its, as O'Brien says, the 'true'-ness of the stories that's haunting, and still haunts him, enough that he exorcised them onto paper.

the templar legacy

The Templar Legacy is the third Cotton Malone novel I've read by Steve Berry, but I think it may be the first in the series. I'm not sure how many there are, but Berry has a fair number of titles to his name, and I don't know which includes his Cotton Malone character.

Malone is a great protagonist, and a great example of the reluctant hero. As a retired US government field agent, with a background in law, Malone has the skills he needs when trouble comes knocking, and his retirement doesn't prevent trouble from coming around. And what a retirement! Malone has left it all behind; a failed marriage, his job, and America; to become a rare book seller in Copenhagen. Black lacquered wood shelves, old leather and vellum bound books, stuffed to the rafters, with a small apartment upstairs.

I know the whole Knights Templar has had (is having) a good run, but I don't think its dead yet. I mean, come on, people have been writing vampire stories for how long?* But contrary to what I thought, the Templar and their history help this story by lending an interesting historical backbone. Its actually another telling of a story of the Templar secret treasure, which cropped up in the Pyrenees in the 1950s and became a local sensation by the 60s, until local officials had to halt all unauthorized excavations in the small town it centered on, when houses began falling over. Templar treasure is a fun backstory and has a lot of latitude for Berry, and other authors and screenwriters, to play with.

I've enjoyed each of the Cotton Malone stories, and this first one didn't disappoint. It was fun, fast and entertaining. Just what the doctor order after The Whale.

*[a search for the term 'vampire' in the books category on Amazon yielded 11,414 results. 'Templar' resulted in 3,638.]

4h and saint patrick

Hey, its Saint Patrick's Day! O'Brien...right? The patron Saint and all that. The 4-H bookmark was the closest thing I had, but nice nonetheless. I got this marker out in western Mass at a library. It was put out by UMass Amherst Extension, and the web address they give is for the Massachusetts 4-H, which is based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

According to the web site: "Massachusetts 4-H is a youth development program open to all young people ages 5 through 18 throughout the Commonwealth. It is part of a nationwide system connected to each land-grant institution of higher education and as such, has access to a wealth of resources and curriculum." Kids learn by doing, in non-formal educational settings. Sounds good.

As far as the holiday, the stories about Patrick are a little murky, but I guess that's to be expected for something that happened around 400 CE. His story also seems to have been wound up with a bishop sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine I around 430, called Palladius. This may be due to the similarity of their names, but I'm guessing. In Latin--which was a popular language for writing around then--Saint Patrick is Sanctus Patricius. Sounds close, but maybe I'm crazy.

I think Patrick, who was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave at 16, and then returned to help spread the word of Christianity to the Irish after he was ordained--he escaped and went back to his family in England--did do a lot for the cause in Ireland, but I don't think it was him that drove the snakes out. I think the sea kept the snakes from moving in.

But what the hell. Éirinn go brách! and have a Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Hats off and three cheers for The O'Brien, Conor Myles John O'Brien, Chief of the Name, 18th Baron Inchiquin and Prince of Thomond, and to his family.