DAVID BLAIR: Vietnam-Faces of Development

On Tuesday, August 7th at 7:00 p.m. Harrisville resident, David Blair will be presenting a program about his experiences in Hanoi during the early 1990s. David and his late wife, Linda were co-directors of Quaker Service Vietnam. They worked in villages in northern Vietnam with both Viet and minority peoples, providing technical assistance and funding for small rural development projects.

Ponderings on the Pond returns to HPL

Ponderings on the Pond will present Larry Antonuk talking about Fly Tying. Larry has been published in American Angler, Fly Tyer, Outdoor Life, and the British Fly Fishing and Fly Tying magazines. He is the tw0-time recipient of a grant from the NH State Council on the Arts Traditional Apprenticeship Program as both an apprentice and a master craftsman. Please join us on Tuesday, June 5th at 7:00 p.m. for a fascinating program!

Spring Events at the Library

Tonight! March 28th at 7:00 pm. will be the second program in the Spinning Harrisville Yarns series. This evening's event will feature Jay Jacobs and Jodi and John Farwell talking about the history of the Adams-Jacobs farm.

In honor of National Poetry month we will be hosting (through the Ponderings on the Pond program) an evening of poetry reading by Dudley Laufman. This event will be held on Tuesday, April 3rd at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome!

The Paper Garden-book discussion

Mary Granville Pendarves Delaney (1700-1788) witty, beautiful and talented was a contemporary and friend of Jonathan Swift and George Frideric Handel. At the age of 72 after having been widowed for a second time began creating mixed media collage. In ten years she created 985 botanically correct cut paper flowers. They are currently housed in the British Museum and are referred to as the Flora Delanica.

In 2010, Molly Peacock, an award-winning poet, published The Paper Garden: an artist begins her life's work at 72. This is a beautifully written biography that examines the nature of creativity and art.

Color illustrations of Mrs. Delaney's work are included in the book.

Please join us on Thursday, January 19th at 7:00 p.m. to discuss this amazing book. Copies may be picked up at the library.

November Book Discussion

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon will be discussed on Monday, November 28th at 7:00 p.m. at the library.

This book was published in 2003 by British author Mark Haddon and won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year. The story is primarily a narrative told from the point of view of "Christopher", a 15 year old sleuth who lives with his father in the town of Swindon. Christopher has Asperger's syndrome, is interested in math, physics, computers, and solving crimes. He takes it upon himself to dtermine who slew his neighbor's poodle, Wellington. This is a charming book, told from the point of view of a bright, quirky young man.

September Book Discussion

Strength in What Remains: a journey of remembrance and forgiveness by Tracy Kidder

"A young man arrives in the big city with two hundred dollars in his pocket, no English at all, and memories of horror so fresh that he sometimes confuses past and present. When Deo first told me about his beginnings in New York, I had a simple thought: "I would not have survived." And then, two years later he enrolls in an Ivy League university. How did this happen? Where did he find the strength, and howhad he won the beneficence of strangers? How had it felt to be him?" ----from Strength in What Remains

Join us on Monday, September 26th at 7:00 p.m. in the library to discuss this compelling story. Copies of the book are available at the library.

Book Discussion Group-August

Monday, August 29th at 7:00 p.m. will be the time and date of the next discussion. The book for this month is "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway.

"In a city ravaged by war, a defiant young musician decides to play his cello at the site of a mortar attack for twenty-two days, in memory of his fallen friends and neighbors. Drawn into the orbit of his music are three young strangers, each living like fugitives in their homeland: a bakry worker, a young father, and finally, a woman-a sniper-who holds the fate of the cellist in her hands, even as her own fate becomes just as changeable with each passing."

From the cover of the paperback edition 2008

This is a work of fiction inspired by the true story of Vedran Smailovic, a cellist who played with the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra. Smailovic played Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor on a pile of rubble, during the seige of Sarajevo for 22 days straight, to honor the 22 people who were killed by a bomb while waiting in a bread line.