Danbury Library Blog

Attention Book Clubs

2009-11-17T15:09:26Z

Keep in mind your library is the place to go for your book club picks. If we don't already have enough copes of a title, we will get them for you. Current titles with several copies on hand are: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro--a story of a society where the few sacrifice the ultimate for the many ;The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, this award-winning novel tells the story of a young man, his multigenerational immigrant family and their unique approach to assimiliation. We have many more great titles available.

Please contact us with your book requests. Call 203-797-4527 and ask for Mary or Colleen.

A Veteran's Day Story

2009-11-12T19:05:15Z

Veteran's Day is a time to reflect on the sacrifices that so many men and women have made in the defense of our country. Recently someone, because they know of my interest in the Civil War, sent me a remarkable story about one Union soldier who died in the Battle of Gettysburg. The story is entiltled Whose Father Was He? and appeared in the New York Times. It is actually two stories: the first part is the story of a soldier who was killed but had no identification on him save for a photograph of three children that he died clutching to his chest. The story of his identification is an intriguing one that is very Dickensian especially in the section on the doctor who helped in identifying the soldier and who started a home for the fatherless children of soldiers with very tragic results. The second story is the modern attempt of one dogged writer to give substance to the soldier's life before the Civil War. That writer used many of the tools of family history research to unearth facts about his life. One of my favorite parts was his ability to take advantage of a librarian's expertise to find out about the soldier's work as a whaler in the 1850s. He was able to contact a librarian at the Providence Public Library who was able to tell him that the man in question sailed out of New Bedford on the ship Harrison in 1850 and also that the library had the logbook of the voyage! Librarians usually play a pivotal role in these searches.

Connecticut's Area Code Changes

2009-11-09T17:57:03Z

Starting Saturday, November 14, we'll all have to push a few more buttons to make a phone call to Connecticut. You must dial the area code every time you dial now, even if it's just a local call down the street. Why the change? Connecticut is adding two new area codes. The new 475 area code will serve the same locations as the 203 area code, and 959 will eventually serve the 860 area code location.

Things to know:
* Even though you will be dialing the area code to make local calls, it will still be considered a local call.
* Your own phone number will not change. Beginning in mid-December, new phone numbers may come with the new 475 area code. The new 979 area code will be implemented in the near future.
* You can still just dial the three digits to reach 911.
* Danbury's 311 line works just by dialing 3-1-1 as well.

So remember, starting Saturday, dial the area code + the seven digit number to make your phone calls. Don't forget to update your cell phones, pagers, speed-dialing services, alarm or security systems, anything else that might automate your calls. Also, don't leave out your area code anymore for business cards and flyers!

For more information, visit Connecticut's Department of Utility Control.

Booker Prizewinner

2009-11-03T15:59:18Z

The Man Booker Prize,a prestigious British literary award for fiction, assures the winner international exposure and the success that brings. This year's winner, Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel is historical fiction at its finest. Set in Tudor England -- one of the characters complains 'there are too many Thomases" and there are --but these are no ordinary Thomases: Wolsey, Cromwell and More to name a few. There is, however, only one Henry VIII and he wants a divorce from first wife Catherine to marry Anne. In this version, it is Thomas Cromwell and not Thomas More who, emerges as "a man for all seasons"--giving this story a whole new spin. Highly recommended.

National Archives Month

2009-10-27T18:29:02Z

October is National Archives Month and a time to recognize the help that we receive from archives and the people who staff them. Archives are crucial for historical research and especially for genealogy research. Danbury Library has a Local History Room which I invite you to visit. It is rich in archival materials which are concerned with Danbury history, Connecticut history and with genealogy research. Your intrepid correspondent will be giving a presentation at the Danbury Museum and Historical Society on Thursday, October 29, at 7 PM on Local Resources for family historians.

If you have not used the National Archives website, please take a look at it. It is likewise celebrating National Archives Month and is an indispensable resource for all manner of research but most especially for family history researchers.

One Book, One Community is wrapping up!

2009-10-26T17:22:23Z

Danbury's One Book, One Community 2009 is coming to a close! We hope you were able to join us for one of the many great events we sponsored for this program. For the last week of events, we're going out with a bang. Tonight, Monday, October 26, we have a film screening of the film The Soloist, over at WestConn's Student Center Theatre at 7pm. Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 27, at 6:30pm, we have a program here at the library called "In Our Own Voice", a joint effort between the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the Danbury Library. A unique public education program, developed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in which two speakers share compelling personal stories about living with mental illness and achieving recovery. Audience members are encouraged to offer feedback and ask questions; the more audience members become involved, the closer they come to understanding what it is like to live with a mental illness and grapple with recovery.

Finally, on Wednesday, October 28, the author of our celebrated book, Hurry Down Sunshine, Michael Greenberg, will be at WestConn's Ives Concert Hall for talk and Q&A session at 7:30pm.

Join us for many great evenings and events this week!

Drac is Back by Dacre

2009-10-19T19:54:26Z

The Big Daddy of vampires is back! Using Bram Stoker's notes for his 1897 classic, Dracula; the great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker, Dacre Stoker, has teamed with Ian Holt to write the sequel, Dracula: The Un-Dead. Set twenty-five years after Dracula has been destroyed, the group responsible for the vampire's destruction is the target of a malevolent force. Another blood-curdling, page turner from the Stoker family.

Jewish Farmers in Connecticut

2009-10-14T17:02:22Z

Recently I caught a very interesting episode on the History Detectives which I watch on a regular basis. One of the reasons that the show is appealing to me is that the history detectives frequently use libraries and librarians in their investigations.

This particular investigation was of a farmhouse in East Haddam, CT. The current owner knew something of the prior history of the farmhouse and was wondering why it had changed hands so frequently around the turn of the 20th century. The names that were associated with the frequent turnovers were Eastern European or Russian. The investigator uncovered the fact that there was a program to aid Jewish immigrants to move from New York City into the New England countryside and become farmers. The mortgages for the East Haddam property came from the Baron de Hirsch Fund and the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society. Baron de Hirsch was a Jewish philanthropist who wanted to help Eastern European Jewish immigrants become established in their new home. In Connecticut "yankee farmers" were selling their farms and moving west or taking factory jobs in the cities. Individual Jewish farmers owned land throughout New England . But the greatest number was located in Connecticut. But the land had been used hard for over 200 years which helps to explain the rapid turnover . The Hirsch Fund and the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society tried to help the farmers by producing a newpaper in Yiddish called The Jewish Farmer which was the first Yiddish agricultural magazine in the world and produced in Connecticut.

Books into Movies

2009-10-06T15:36:16Z

There's still time to read a number of books before the movie (based on the book) is released in the next few months. The long running favorite The Lovely Bones about how a family of a young girl copes with her disappearance/death and how she copes with watching their suffering from heaven has a great cast including Susan Sarandon and Mark Wahlberg.

Cormac McCarthy's critically acclaimed The Road, scheduled for theater release in November, is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a father and son struggle for survival.

On a comic/ tragic note (tragic if you think about tax dollars spent) we have The Men Who Stare at Goats which investigates the U.S. military's exploration of the paranormal to use in the war on terror. That movie with George Clooney is scheduled for release in November.

Hitler's Suicide

2009-09-29T18:49:33Z

Recently I saw a fascinating documentary on the History Channel which was entitled "Hitler's Death." It was an in-depth look at the forensic evidence surrounding the death of Hitler in the bunker in April of 1945. The major reporter for this documentary was Nick Bellantoni. I knew I recognized his name and then realized that he is the Connecticut State Archeologist as well as an adjunct professor of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut. He visited Berlin and Moscow in order to review the forensic evidence. The Russians were the first to enter the bunker after Hitler's death. In the Moscow State Archive the Russians had a fragment of skull which they claimed had come from Hitler's brain and a bloodstained fragment from Hitler's sofa. Bellantoni was able to examine the brain fragment and sofa fragment in Moscow. He was able to take a swab of the blood on the sofa and took photographs of the skull fragment. He took these findings back to his laboratory at the University of Connecticut and had a team of scientists examine them. His findings were surprising. The skull DNA was female and also from a younger person. It could not possibly have been from Hitler. The blood on the sofa was from a male but could not be identified as Hitler's. The result is a mystery reopened and the possibility that Hitler did not die in the bunker. And Connecticut is at the center of it all. An interesting story about Hitler's possible survival is The Portage to San Cristobal of A. H. by George Steiner.

One Book, One Community

2009-09-27T19:32:14Z

Danbury's One Book, One Community begins in October with a month full of events and programs dedicated to the book, "Hurry Down Sunshine" by Michael Greenberg. New for 2009, we have an essay contest in which winners will win $200 and dinner with the author. The deadline is October 1st, and there are three categories available for entry. For more details, visit our One Book, One Community website.

Our first event is on Monday, October 5, with a showing of the movie Awakenings at WestConn at the Student Center Theatre. Join us for an evening with great film and great discussion.

For a complete list of all events for One Book, One Community, visit the events page at the One Book, One Community site.

"We've Got a Collyer"

2009-09-21T19:45:55Z

It's been reported that NYC police and fire personnel still use the above expression when faced with a situation made hazardous because a building is so packed with junk/stuff . The Collyer brothers, the famous recluses/hoarders whose Harlem home contained over 100 tons of junk collected over decades (as seen in photo) were discovered deceased amidst the rubble in 1947.

In his new book, Homer & Langley, author E.L. Doctorow takes some of the basic facts of the Collyer brothers' lives and weaves them into a fictional account which has been described as a "small but sweeping masterpiece." Doctorow views the Collyers as "two brothers who opted out of civilization and pulled the world in after them."

Newton and the Counterfeiter

2009-09-16T19:38:32Z

We all know Sir Isaac Newton for his titanic scientific achievements. He did groundbreaking work in the fields of gravity, the laws of motion, calculus, optics and alchemy. But he had another career that few people are aware of. In 1696 he left the University of Cambridge (where he had worked for thirty years) and went to London to work as Warden (and later Master) of His Majesty's Mint. This story is told in a new book by Thomas Levenson which is entitled Newton and the Counterfeiter... When he took up this position England's currency was in the midst of a severe crisis. Silver was flowing out of England to the European continent. This had an almost catastrophic effect on the English currency which was based on silver coinage. Newton had to evolve a plan to rescue the English economy. He also locked horns with a master counterfeiter, William Chaloner, who forged bank notes, bonds, personal checks, and clipped silver coins. Newton corresponded with and pursued Chaloner (and other currency criminals) and his work led to the imprisonment and execution of Chaloner. Newton added to his already formidable scientific achievements a record of solid accomplishments in transforming the British economy.

The Senator from Massachusetts

2009-09-08T18:20:06Z

In his 1977 Commencement Address to my graduating class at Holy Cross, Sen. Ted Kennedy told us "because so much has been given to you, be worthy of your stewardship and the promise of this land".

My father later commented "Teddy gave a good speech". That's the way it was--when and where I grew up (R.I. and Mass). If someone spoke of Jack, Bobby or Teddy, it was not necessary to use the last name. They were a part of our lives. We were shaken by their tragedies, embarrassed and horrified by some missteps but always loyal to the cause

In his professional life Ted Kennedy was unwavering in his commitment to speaking for those who have no voice and inspiring many to public service.

His reportedly very candid memoir True Compass will not be the last word on Teddy but they are his final words on a remarkable life.

The Librarian Who Came in from the Cold

2009-09-02T15:05:19Z

I recently rewatched the movie version of John LeCarre's novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. The book has been hailed as the most realistic spy novel since its publication in 1963. I have read the book and seen the movie multiple times. But in watching it again this week I was struck by one segment of the movie in particular. The story centers around Alec Leamas who is ostensibly being retired from the British Secret Service. This is in order to set in motion a highly complex plot to bring down the head of the East German Spy Service who has killed all of the British agents in East Berlin. After Leamas leaves the spy service he is sent to the unemployment office to find a job. His case worker, Mr. Pitt, finds him a job in the Bayswater Library for Psychic Research. Pitt tells Leamas: "They're an odd lot..." Leamas goes to work in the library and finds out the truth in Pitt's statement. Leamas immediately locks horns with the head librarian, Miss Crail, who tries to be a dictator with Leamas. When he goes out at lunchtime he hits the local pub for some drinks as well as some food shopping. He brings his shopping bag into the library and draws a sharp reprimand from Miss Crail: "I regret" she continued at last, "that we do not allow it, bringing shopping bags into the library." Miss Crail grows to hate Leamas in the short time he works at the library. However, the other librarian, Liz Gold, is friendly to him and they fall in love. She is a menber of the British Communist Party and is eventually dragged into the plot against Leamas' wishes. When she is brought into a tribunal in East Berlin to testify, Leamas tells them to send her home and he will tell them everything. He describes her thus: "She's just a frustrated little girl from a crackpot library-she's no good to you. " Then he realizes that the operation is not at all what he thought it was with tragic consequences for the both of them.