Ballston Reader
What's Happening at the Town of Ballston Community Library
Friday, May 18th, 2018
Coloring Night at the Library
Coloring is not just for kids! Adult (and teen) coloring provides an opportunity to de-stress, focus in a mindful way, and express your creativity! We will supply the coloring pages, just bring your favorite markers, pencils, or pens. The library will also have some supplies on hand to use if you don't have your own.
Open to adults and teens in grades 9-12.
Registration Requested.Drop-In Technology/ Computer Help
Sarah from Rensselaer County Cornell Cooperative Extension will help you with all of your technology questions! Bring your own device, or use ours.
Drop in, no registration.
Wednesday, May 23rd from 3:00-5:00pm
Yoga for Tight Hips and Hamstrings
Monday, May 21st at 6:30pm
This Past Week!
Elizabeth Rosner Speaks About Her Novel Survivor Cafe!
Check out some pictures from the event below!
*Photo by Stuart Fiedler
*Photo by Stuart Fiedler
Check Out These Books!
Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston
"The eye-opening, terrifying and wonderful Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo," a posthumous, previously unpublished nonfiction work by Zora Neale Hurston, demonstrates an intimacy and immediacy that some of those interview-based narratives lack.
This early effort, completed before Hurston's fame peaked as an anthropologist and novelist, has the passion and freshness of a young person discovering her true métier. Barracoon — the word comes from the Spanish word for "barracks" — came about in 1927, when the then-unknown Hurston was assigned a task by famed anthropologist Franz Boas: interviewing an 86-year-old former slave living in the tiny town of Plateau, Ala. Oluale Kossula — also known by the slave name of Cudjo Lewis — had a remarkable past. Raised to the age of 19 in West Africa, he was captured and brought to the United States as a captive on Clotilda, the fabled last ship ever to ply the waters of the transatlantic slave trade." - Excerpt from NPR Book Review article
Robin
"What is the lesson of the tin soldier? The mightiest may someday melt down, but never retreat.
Addiction is a catchall phrase these days, and Robin Williams, who killed himself in 2014, was certainly an alcoholic and addict off and on throughout his life, but his real cravings were emotional and psychological. His explosive comedic energy, which at times poured out as if he had plunged a needle into some secret vein of creativity, rushed him toward success just as it pushed him continually to get higher. He idolized many who admired him, but rarely felt secure in their estimation. Ultimately, his desire for laughter and critical affirmation—despite the peer and public acclaim for his work—escalated to a level that could never be fulfilled.
Dave Itzkoff’s exhaustive and exhausting biography of the inimitable comedian and actor, Robin, meticulously traces Williams’ life and career, his seemingly overnight success, marriages, infidelities and closest friendships, using extensive personal interviews of family and friends. Itzkoff largely allows Williams’ inner circle to supply the psychological analysis on the late creative genius." - Excerpt from Book Page Book Review article
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
The title of Michael Ondaatje's atmospheric new novel — Warlight — refers most directly to the dimmed lights that guided emergency traffic during wartime blackouts, but it applies equally to the cloak of secrecy and uncertainty that blankets this haunting tale.
Much of the action — lovers' trysts in abandoned buildings, covert wartime operations, transportation of contraband goods and illegally imported greyhound racing dogs — takes place not just in the metaphorical darkness of unreliable memory and deliberate deception, but in a "wet, pitch-black universe" occasionally illuminated by the guiding glow of what was known as a "bomber's moon."" - Excerpt from NPR Book Review article
Board of Trustees Monthly Board Meeting
Wednesday, May 30th at 7:00pm
Community Display Spaces
Calling all artists & collectors!
Town of Ballston Community Library
Email: web.toblibrary@gmail.com
Website: toblibrary.sals.edu
Location: 2 Lawmar Lane, Burnt Hills, NY, United States
Phone: 5183998174
Facebook: facebook.com/toblibrary