When is a Town Library not a Town-owned library? Answer: when it’s a nonprofit corporation library. The history of libraries in Lenox is an interesting one. The very first library in Lenox that we know of dates to 1797, when Lenox was barely 30 years old. A number of movers-and-shakers in town decided to pool [...]
HI everyone, I am looking forward to using this blog to talk about what’s on my mind. I have been working at the Lenox Library for 3 months now, and have met many of you. Dozens of you have sat in my office to chat, often with laughter, and occasionally with tears. I have had [...]
Helen Perry passed away peacefully on Thursday, July 9, at the age of 94. Helen was President of the Lenox Library Association Board of Managers from 1988-1992, and was instrumental in overseeing the Library’s capital campaign. During that time, she was known for her fundraising slogan, “Love alone is not enough.” She was also active [...]
Not to pigeonhole myself, but it would seem that I have alighted upon another noir with a twist this month. This book gained a fair amount of press upon publication, partly because it was so unusual, and partly because of the fact that Michael Chabon has become in recent years one of the most recognizable [...]
Brick Directed by Rian Johnson, starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, Lukas Haas and Emilie De Ravin Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler have given us so much. Not only did they pioneer and establish the genre of “Film Noir” detective fiction, but they brought it out of the seedy pulp publications of the time, soaked it in [...]
With all of the renewed interest in Amelia Earhart, we should remember the many other pioneer female aviators like Beryl Markham who wrote “West with the Night” (1942). Most of her adventures in flying took place in Africa. She is noted as one of the first to fly the Atlantic solo east to west from [...]
Sarah Vowell will be at the Colonial Theatre in April, 2010. I already have my front row seat. She’s described as an “armchair historian” and “social observer”. She’s a regular commentator on NPR. Her latest book is “The Wordy Shipmates” which dispels many of the accepted myths of our Puritan forefathers. I found most fascinating [...]
The first of a trilogy, Genghis: Birth of an Empire is a wonderful piece of historical fiction. When I learn about history, I personally prefer to have some sort of human element or story to wrap the facts and occurrences around, and this book is a perfect example. Authored by the same man who wrote [...]
As Fall gently (or not so gently if you have allergies) asserts itself over our small corner of the world, my thoughts generally turn to things of a magic and pastoral nature. Maybe it’s because of where we live, maybe it’s because I’m an anglophile, but to combat the waning daylight and iron grey skies, [...]