Danbury Library Blog

You've made time to eat, drink, and be merry, to hit the mall (multiple times) and all those big box stores. Now take a moment to relax and enjoy the great outdoors. We've got some wonderful recreational resources in the greater Danbury area--local, state and national parks are all within an easy drive. Check out the links below for basic information about hours of operation, directions, and trail maps:

Tarrywile Park & Mansion
Putnam State Park
Huntington State Park
Pierrepont State Park Reserve
Weir Farm National Historic Site

Posted by Andrea at 05:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Earlier this month, the Eric Mintel Quartet came to the library through terrible weather and horrendous traffic to play a holiday jazz concert.

Thanks to those who made it through the ice and sleet to enjoy the music! For those that couldn't make it, here's a taste of the show!

Posted by Kate at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last Friday, December 14, marked the last day on our staff for John O'Donnell. Regular readers of this blog will know his name as the creator of interesting entries on a variety of subjects, although history and literature were two of his favorites. Countless numbers of library users asked for him by name when they had reference questions to be answered, in person and on the phone, because they knew his answers would be thorough and graciously given. John begins a new phase of his career today, working for one of the state's law libraries. We wish him well and promise to do our best to learn the local history collection (nearly) as well as he did.

And speaking of wishes, on behalf of the entire staff of the Danbury Library, let me wish each and every one of you a joyous Christmas season and a happy and healthy 2008. Be sure to make frequent visits to the library and/or our web site one of your personal New Year's resolutions.

Posted by Mark at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Deck your halls and holiday table with our help. Check out "Spirit of the Holidays" for decorating and gift-making ideas.

Prepare your holdiay feasts wth the help of the pros--Christmas with Paula Deen covers holdiay breakfast, dinner and, of course, cookies, puddings and pies.

Seriously Simple Holidays includes full menus with wine recommendations for stress-free elegant presentations.

Happy Holidays!

Posted by Mary at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evel Knievel, daredevil extraordinaire, died earlier this week and was laid to rest in Butte, Montana. He was born in Butte and loved the city and lived there for much of his life. Butte is called the richest hill on earth and also the glittering hill because of the mineral deposits of gold, silver and copper that were mined from it. It was ruled by the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. with an iron hand. My grandfather was a miner there and worked there during the period of great labor unrest in 1917 when the unions were struggling for an open shop and the company wanted a closed shop. The International Workers of the World sent a union organizer named Frank Little to help the unions. He was murdered by a group of unknown people shortly after arriving there. One of the people who was in Butte at this time was Daishiell Hammett, author of the Maltese Falcon, who worked as a Pinkerton Detective. He claimed that he was approached to murder Little but turned the people down. He fictionalized the story in Red Harvest

Posted by John O'Donnell at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In Native American lore, December is known variously as the month of the Cold Moon or the Long Night Moon. But it is less officially the Month of Endless End-of-Year Lists. The best and worst of everything is calculated, tabulated and enumerated, listed in ascending or descending order (I guess it depends if the list maker is an optimist or pessimist). It’s almost too much guidance. The New York Times Book Review keeps it short and sweet---the ten best books of 2007, equally divided between fiction and nonfiction, listed alphabetically. For folks with longer attention spans, the list is expanded to 100 notable titles (with a separate list of notable books for children). If you’re looking for the Book Review’s weekly list of bestsellers, check out the Books & Reading section of our website.

Posted by Andrea at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to a recent survey, one out of four adults did not read a book last year. This means three out of four adults or approximately 165 milliion people did read some of the roughly 292,000 new books published last year as well as many of those already in print

A good number of people are still picking up a book.To those avid readers out there I recommend Harold Bloom's How to Read and Why. The noted critic uses many of his favorite works to illustrate the necessity of reading for enrichment and pleasure.

Those of you with a more lackadaisical approach to reading might embrace How to Talk About Books You've Never Read. --proving there is a book published on every subject.

Posted by Mary at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)