The fall of 2011 has been very good to some first-time novelists. Already well-received–Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding is about a baseball star at a small college near Lake Michigan who launches a routine throw that goes disastrously off course and inadvertently changes the lives of five people. Library Journal hails this title as a “highly enjoyable and intelligent novel [that] offers several coming-of-age tales set against the background of an exciting and convincing baseball drama. Continue »

Local author and Wakefield Daily Item reporter Gail Lowe will be at Beebe Library on Monday September 20 at 6:30 p.m. to read from her new book, Former Things. The event is free and the public is invited. Refreshments will be served and the author will have signed copies of her book available.

Here are some other books and authors worth checking out
Jodi Picoult’s readers are immediately drawn into the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. She creates communities familiar to everyone. The author then explores what happens to everyday people when their lives go out of control. Picoult is known for her current and controversial issue-oriented themes, presenting all sides of the topic, and creating sympathy for everyone involved, making it difficult to take sides. Readers return to her for her highly satisfying stories that feature consistently interesting characters in an easy-to-read but compelling, page-turning tale.
Jodi Picoult Readalikes

Library plans events to celebrate
During the month of January the library will be celebrating Jane Austen with displays and a variety of programs, including movies, a Regency Period Costume Demonstration and a Bollywood Bance Demonstration.
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Wrote The House on Fortune Street

Margot Livesey, author of six novels including her latest, “The House on Fortune Street” (May 2008), will speak at Beebe Library on Wednesday, June 4, at 7 p.m. in the Lecture Hall.
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If you are like most people, you probably had a spending spree during the holiday season. Even people who started out with a budget seem to have wavered and become carried away buying food and gifts.

Soon enough, January comes and reality sets in. Credit card bills arrive and the hard truth must be faced. In some cases, panic results because the amounts that are now owed are way beyond the resources available to pay them.
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