Let's Take the Long Way Home

Let's Take the Long Way Home / Gail Caldwell
Highly recommended.



In this gorgeous, moving memoir, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Caldwell reflects on her own coming-of-age in midlife, as she learns to open herself to the power and healing of sharing her life with a best friend.

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Read the full NY Times book reveiw

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O ME! O life!

O ME! O life!

Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman (1819–1892)

O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

Learn more about Walt Whitman at your Wilkinson Public Library.

~ Faith

time warp

Solid story telling of the old fashioned kind, with plot, setting, heroes and conclusion. These stories were written between 1950 and 1968 are something of a time capsule of that fascinating era. When I first read them as a teenager in the mid 70's they were becoming cult classics. It is remarkable now to observe how dated and innocent they seem today.

I see a much greater continuity looking back on these stories with Clarke and Heinlein than I did at the time. Vonnegut majored in chemistry at Cornell University before joining the U.S. Army and serving in Europe. His heroes all manifest the 'can-do' mindset that so characterized America at mid-century.

Although his subject matter may have been controversial at the time, all of Vonnegut's stories are fundamentally hopeful, as if all the world needs is a bit of clear thinking to get straightened out. Oddly enough, for me that story that didn't work is the title piece, "Welcome to the Monkey House." Its use of non-metaphoric rape as an avenue of political and spiritual liberation has always been disturbing -- at least it was for a lot of us who read the book in the 70's, and may explain why this author is considered a guy's writer.

By and large though, I found his work has aged quite well, and I was left almost a bit nostalgic for this earlier and more innocent time. Andy

Gifted: lovely little things to knit and crochet

Gifted: lovely little things to knit and crochet / Mags Kandis


Here's a celebration of joyful crafting and gracious giving. It features designs for small but lively gifts from wearable accessories such as hats, scarves, wraps and ear muffs to household fun including a tea cosy, pincushion, needle case and egg cosies. It's for knitters and crocheters with any level of experience and time. Each project is customized with finishing touches including beads, buttons, needle felting, applique and embroidery making it personal and extra special. Gifted will inspire you to invest a little time and love creating something special for someone - even if that someone special is you!-Machine Knitting Monthly
Featuring a range of designs for small but lively presents, this book teaches readers how to create everything from hats, scarves and ear muffs, to tea cosies, needle cases and pin cushions. Ideal for beginners and more experienced crafters alike, it encourages customers to experiment with a range of different techniques, including beading, applique and embroidery. Boasting beautiful photography throughout, it is the ultimate reference guide for individuals hoping to add a special something to their Christmas gifts this year.-Craft Business
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A Visit From the Goon Squad

I got a lot of chuckles out of this one...the author creates a large ensemble cast and follows them from the early eighties through today and into a not too distant future. Her focus is on the punk rock world of the lower east side and alphabet city.

"Time is a goon", and Egan is merciless in dissecting the ravages of age on a generation of rockers set on early demise. The day after I finished reading this I found the obituary for Ari Up, lead singer for the Slits, who died last week at the age of 48.

Like the old movie "Pulp Fiction," the chronology of the story is totally chopped up and rearranged. However, it spans decades rather than days, and one entire chapter of the story is carried completely through PowerPoint slides.

Plenty of fiction leaves me bored stiff, this did not. I am currently reading (listening actually) to an earlier work by the same author, "The Keep." I recommend this as well -- like "Goon Squad" it combines fantastic inner dialogue with other worldy humor. Andy

The Food Matters Cookbook

The Food Matters Cookbook / Mark Bittman

Only America could produce a Mark Bittman. One moment, he's traversing Spain on public television with celebrities in tow, peddling the newest fad in high-end dining and drooling over prodigious quantities of savory food in tight closeup. The next moment he's promoting minimalist cooking. Now he reports his own passionate belief in agricultural sustainability and slow food, and he touts a new diet that not only offers guilt-free pleasure but also makes Americans look as good as the beautiful people he hangs out with. His prescription: become aware of where food comes from; choose foods intelligently; pay attention to broad, inclusive nutritional principles; balance intake and exercise; snack judiciously; and make sure that whatever one eats, it's as attractive to the palate as it is to the waistline. Bittman's fame will generate lots of attention, and his commonsense advice, while not new, bears the hallmarks of contemporary nutritional wisdom. Recipes included.--Knoblauch, Mark Copyright 2008 Booklist
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Other People's Rejection Letters

Other People's Rejection Letters / edited by Bill Shapiro

A treasury of rejection letters includes examples by such famous figures as Jimi Hendrix and Andy Warhol and features entries ranging from Dear John letters and child runaway notes to stinging employer turn-downs and insurance denials.
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Running Dry

Running Dry: A Journey from Source to Sea Down the Colorado River

Jonathan Waterman

*Starred Review* Waterman, whose earlier books illuminate the Arctic, strikes an impressive balance between the personal and the political in chronicling his journey down the Colorado River. Quoting those who have traveled its depths before, such as John Wesley Powell and Wallace Stegner, he writes not only about the river's now-dying power but also the extensive regulations put in place to control and possess it. And yet as much as this is about the river, Waterman also discusses individuals invested in its survival from biologists to the many watermen and -women whose livelihoods come from navigating its length. The misguided playground of Lake Powell proves to be an unsavory stopping point, but the author perseveres in his search for answers. From Vegas to Mexico, he finds waste and ruin and then turns a corner to discover the fruits of hard-won battles for bird sanctuaries and brilliant uses of drip irrigation. Through it all, he ruminates about the choices between life and death for humankind and rivers. An evocative and bold take on a river and what winning the West really means, Waterman's book epitomizes the best of environmental writing.--Mondor, Colleen Copyright 2010 Booklist
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A Visit from the Goon Squad

A Visit From the Goon Squad / Jennifer Egan


*Starred Review* Egan is a writer of cunning subtlety, embedding within the risky endeavors of seductively complicated characters a curious bending of time and escalation of technology's covert impact. Following her diabolically clever The Keep (2006), Egan tracks the members of a San Francisco punk band and their hangers-on over the decades as they wander out into the wider, bewildering world. Kleptomaniac Sasha survives the underworld of Naples, Italy. Her boss, New York music producer Bennie Salazar, is miserable in the suburbs, where his tattooed wife, Stephanie, sneaks off to play tennis with Republicans. Obese former rock-star Bosco wants Stephanie to help him with a Suicide Tour, while her all-powerful publicist boss eventually falls so low she takes a job rehabilitating the public image of a genocidal dictator. These are just a few of the faltering searchers in Egan's hilarious, melancholy, enrapturing, unnerving, and piercingly beautiful mosaic of a novel. As episodes surge forward and back in time, from the spitting aggression of a late-1970s punk-rock club to the obedient, socially networked herd gathered at the Footprint, Manhattan's 9/11 site 20 years after the attack, Egan evinces an acute sensitivity to the black holes of shame and despair and to the remote-control power of the gadgets that are reordering our world.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist
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Community Action Day

Learn about Community Action Day at Your Wilkinson Public Library.

~ Faith

Hoboes, Bindlestiffs, Fruit Tramps, and the Harvesting of the West

Hoboes, Bindlestiffs, Fruit Tramps, and the Harvesting of the West /
Mark Wyman

Historian Wyman offers a richly detailed study of the thousands of workers who followed the booming railroads west during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in order to pick, prepare, and load crops, from cotton, wheat, and hops to apples, beets, and oranges. These transients moved about the country, often accompanied by their families, who worked as well. They endured generally low wages, backbreaking labor, and awful living conditions-mitigated only slightly in the 1910s, for the select few who could afford automobiles and were thus granted greater mobility. Periodic efforts to unionize, especially by the radical Industrial Workers of the World, were invariably met with hostility. Wyman's extensive research translates into readable, often moving prose with details that illuminate the lives of previously obscure people and reveals a surprising ethnic and racial diversity among this often-overlooked group. The author of several books, Wyman has become a leading source on the American West and here makes a case for a more complex narrative of the region, one that ought to include hoboes in the list of "Western heroes," along with "cowboys and Indians, explorers and entrepreneurs, first settlers and gunslingers." (May) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
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Voting in Colorado

Learn about the latest ballot measures in the upcoming Colorado election.

There are handouts about each candidate available in the lobby of your
Wilkinson Public Library.

The public is welcome to contribute additional information.

Verify your registration or register to vote.