Thomaston Public Library, Thomaston Maine

Right in sync with our Siberian weather, the library this month features a warm and fuzzy display of the fine knitted work of some of our patrons. The display runs through the month of March and we hope it warms the cockles of your hearts -- as well as all other body parts! Check out our collection of knitting books when you come in too. We have had some fine books on the craft donated to us over the past couple years.

Please scroll down for the latest news and for information on upcoming events. Check the Catalog & ILL page for a list of our new materials and the Book Clubs page for the scoop on December's Intergenerational Book Club selection. The Mystery Book Club has now scheduled their featured mystery writers through October 2015 -- and they are looking for new members! -- so check out their next year's enticing roster on our Book Clubs page too.

March 6th:
The Secret of Roan Inish

The Friday Night Films are open to the public and free, although donations are gratefully accepted. The location is Room 200 of the Academy Building and films start promptly at 6:30 PM. Light refreshments are served.

Bring your pre-school child in to hear stories, do crafts, browse the shelves, and play! Story Hour happens every Thursday morning at 11. Stop by for travel-themed stories and crafts this month, when we'll continue to explore the world through our imaginations!

We're enjoying this Story Hour theme so much, we just can't give it up. In March, we'll warm up by traveling to India, Hawaii, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean.

The March pick from the Saltwater Film Society is a 1991 documentary on the making of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. This movie depicts the difficulties the movie makers had with the quality of the acting, with spending beyond their projected budget, and even with doubts Coppola had about the quality of the film he was making. Famous moments such as Marlon Brando's improvised rambling monologues are included in the documentary and have helped to make it a cult classic.

For more information about the Saltwater Film Society, please see their website.

The IRS has informed us that they will not be printing tax-form instruction booklets this year, for cost-cutting reasons. Libraries have also been sent a much-reduced inventory of forms. The IRS is providing us with a copy of their volume Reproducible Copies of Federal Tax Forms and Instructions, which includes instructions for the Forms 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ, along with associated Schedules A, B, C, EIC, F, R, SE, and 8812. It's a volume of laminated masters the public can browse and make copies from, and we should receive it by the end of February.

The pre-printed forms already available for free are the 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ. We are happy to print other forms for you this tax season, at a special reduced rate of 10 cents per page (copies normally cost 25 cents).

Our public computers are also available, with access to irs.gov, if you choose to view the instruction booklets online.

The Theory of Everything is a bittersweet bio-pic about Stephen Hawking's love life. Knowing little to nothing about Hawking's relationships, I was surprised at all the twists and turns in the story. There is very strong acting in this one from the two leads. Eddie Redmayne does a very convincing portrayal of Stephen Hawking, and Felicity Jones is wonderful as his wife, Jane. Charlie Cox plays Jane Hawking's choir-director-turned-nurse, who is also in top form. I only wish it could have played longer at the theater I work at, in part because happy endings (even bittersweet ones) tend to mean a rise in attendance, but I won't give any more away!

I give this film 4/5 stars.

Euphoria is Maine author Lily King's fourth book and a departure from her previous, highly-regarded works, in setting and time -- and in its historical basis. King highlights an intriguing episode in the early professional life of anthropologist Margaret Mead, as her marriage crumbles and she and her soon-to-be-ex encounter the man who will become her next husband. Both men are anthropologists too, but decidedly different in every other way. The novel's setting is New Guinea and King paints the locale very evocatively; the reader is both drawn to and repelled by this lush and deadly-dangerous place. The real-life episode forms the basis and the launch pad for King's story, for she weaves in historical facts and freely invents. The story's resolution is fictional.

Euphoria brims with romantic tension, energy and passion, a continuous sense of foreboding, frequent violent tremors, and exotic details you won't soon forget.

Perhaps most striking about King's literary accomplishment is one's sense that an enormous amount of research must have preceded the writing, yet that research has been incorporated so subtley and so seamlessly as to appear effortless. The result is magic, as is King's lovely prose, the profound intelligence that informs each page, and the refreshing vocational passion that courses through the book as our three professionals share their methods and convictions, strive to break new ground, and challenge the dusty dictates of early-twentieth-century anthropology.

You can create a lasting memorial and important legacy while supporting Thomaston Public Library. Designate a bequest in your will or trust or name the Thomaston Public Library as a beneficiary in your retirement savings plan. Insure the vibrant longevity of our community living room and help continue the many programs and facilities Thomaston Public Library offers: books, on paper or on our many e-readers; presentations by local authors and poets; book clubs and films; access to computers and wifi; children's reading hours and summer programming for kids.

All funds donated to The Friends of Thomaston Public Library, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, are fully tax deductible and will insure that generations of neighbors will enjoy this inviting and comfortable treasure. For more information, contact the library at 354-2453 or email tpl@thomaston.lib.me.us.

Thomaston Public Library has received a large donation of new books -- many of them brand-new releases -- from Thomaston's Tilbury House Publishers.

Under new owners Tris Coburn and Jon Eaton, 40-year-old Tilbury House Publishers moved from Gardiner to Thomaston in November 2013. After settling into new offices over the Highlands Cafe, Tilbury staff got right to work, with the help of frequent coffee runs downstairs, publishing 24 new books in 2014, including 12 picture books for children and 12 New England regional and general nonfiction books for adult readers.

Tilbury House plans to publish another 22 books in 2015, including 17 books for children and young readers, and the Tilbury House staff thought that donating books for a "Tilbury Corner" in the library would be the perfect way to introduce the publishing house to its new host community.

Tilbury Corner is located just inside the main room of the library and all the books are available for check-out.

Pictured left to right: Ann Harris, Jon Eaton, Mariellen Eaton, Joanna Hynd.

Reminiscent of the novel Memnoch the Devil, Prince Lestat continues Anne Rice's series of books know as "The Vampire Chronicles." The story follows the life and times of Lestat, a man brought into the blood in his mid-20's, in the year 1780. Now nearly 200 years old, Lestat has been pivotal in the burgeoning vampire culture. He seeks solitude as he struggles to come to grips with his newfound fame. It is not until faced with an unprecedented crisis that Lestat's true mettle is tested.

Like many of Anne Rice's other books, Prince Lestat is filled with longing and nostalgia. With a host of characters and multiple points of view, the book attempts to keep you guessing. Sadly, the ending is quite predictable, if not completely formulaic. Though well-written, this book leaves you feeling you knew the ending from the very start.

New to the library's digital-video-disc collection is Richard Linklater's ambitious twelve-year film project titled simply: Boyhood. This 2014 film stars Ellar Coltrane as its subject and shows him grow up and slowly age over the twelve-year period. Some of the fun in watching this movie are its references to different things happening in the U.S. at the time it was being filmed, beginning with some dated references to Britney Spears' "Oops, I Did It Again." The film is interesting both as a story and as a record of its stars' aging, particularly Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke as Coltrane's parents.

Just a heads-up to parents wanting to share this movie with their kids: there are some intense moments involving an alcoholic stepfather, as well as some drug use and underage drinking, which is why the movie is rated R. The movie is also quite long, nearly three hours long. It is easy to imagine that after twelve years of filming, it would be difficult to pare down; however the film remains quite gripping the entire way through.

Winner of 3 Golden Globes, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Arquette), it is speculated that this film will be up for some Academy Awards this coming 2015 Oscar season. Check it out soon to stay in the Oscar loop!

Tim English is resuming his Saturday morning Qi Gong sessions in the Thomaston Academy gym, on Saturdays at 11:30 AM.

According to the National Qi Gong Association, "The word Qigong (Chi Kung) is made up of two Chinese words. Qi is pronounced chee and is usually translated to mean the life force or vital energy that flows through all things in the universe. The second word, Gong, pronounced gung, means accomplishment or skill that is cultivated through steady practice. Together, Qigong (Chi Kung) means cultivating energy. It is a system practiced for health maintenance, healing, and increasing vitality."

The Qi Gong sessions are open to people of any age and skill level. No experience is necessary. Non-restricting, comfortable clothes are advisable for the gentle, graceful exercises of Qi Gong.

The library is setting up a special shelf to hold its literary classics. If you have classic novels in good condition collecting dust on your shelves, we would be thrilled to add them to our expanding collection. Many libraries report that the circulation of classics shoots up when they are highlighted on a shelf of their own. There are many classic authors who will capture your attention and transport you to another world, just like Jane Austen does.

Although we have a respectable number of titles, there are many essential titles we lack. Please stop by or call us at 354-2453 for more information or to find out the authors for whom we have a particular need.