LibraryPoint Blog

Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy by Frances Mayes: Frances Mayes--widely published poet, gourmet cook, and travel writer--opens the door to a wondrous new world when she buys and restores an abandoned villa in the spectacular Tuscan countryside. In evocative language, she brings the reader along as she discovers the beauty and simplicity of life in Italy. Mayes also creates dozens of delicious seasonal recipes from her traditional kitchen and simple garden, all of which she includes in the book. Doing for Tuscany what M.F.K. Fisher and Peter Mayle did for Provence, Mayes writes about the tastes and pleasures of a foreign country with gusto and passion.

If you enjoyed this book about travel and coming of age and would like something similar, here are some other titles you may enjoy:

Ciao, America by Beppe Severgnini. Beppe Severgnini chronicles the experiences he and his wife had while renting a house in Georgetown and attempting to adapt to modern American culture. (worldcat.org)

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert

Shop local--authors that is!  Many people apply this well known encouragement to some aspect of their life: visiting one of the area Farmer’s Markets, eating at a locally-owned diner or buying jewelry from the artist that lives down the street.  Local authors probably aren’t on their radar, but they should be!  We are home to many who write for children and teens.  Their books are available for pre-purchase perusal at the public library and for sale in area bookstores. Here are a few recommended, recently published titles that are perfect for holiday gift-giving.  As an added incentive they are all are set in Virginia.

“ABC’s From the Rappahannock River, With Love” by Betty Lewis Ellett can be enjoyed on several levels.  Readers of any age will enjoy the lovely, full-page photographs of our beautiful river and its environs.  Share only the first line of every page, and preschoolers will enjoy it as a vocabulary expanding alphabet book, for example “P...is for pier,” with an accompanying photo that perfectly illustrates the new word.  Children with longer attention spans can read the detailed text and learn about the various aspects of the river, from man-made structures such as the bridges, features like the quarry, and wildlife like herons and eagle nests.  This attractive and informative picture book provides a fresh look at a major area feature, and will make a great gift for preschool and early elementary aged children.  

I was never the new kid at school, but I had plenty of moments when I felt like I didn't fit in or belong. That is why I identified immediately with the titular character of Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School.

To our schoolboy narrator, Marshall looks like trouble from the start. He wears a tweed jacket with leather patches with a ragtimey hat covering his head. "He looks different to me." 

The nitpicky observations continue. His glasses say "Ray Ban" so they must belong to another boy. The food Marshall eats at lunch all comes in silver wrappers, obviously "space food." While everyone else has a regular bicycle, Marshall rides a velocipede. He can't play during gym, and he doesn't watch television. Who is this kid? Is he an alien? Is he from another century? What a weirdo.

So when Marshall invites the whole class to his birthday party it's bound to be a terrible time, right?

Forget the Hunger Games. A Canticle for Leibowitz is the grandaddy of all post-apocalyptic novels. In it, Walter M. Miller Jr. eloquently dissects the nature of mankind in a moving manner that is also surprisingly funny.

This interview airs beginning December 5.
Spending time with Dan Finnegan gave us the opportunity to talk about his work as a potter and learn about the creation of one of the largest art centers in this area, the LibertyTown Arts Workshop.  Debby Klein talks with Dan about the diverse artists whose studios occupy LibertyTown and the many opportunities available to all who visit there on CRRL Presents, a Central Rappahannock Regional Library production. This interview was recorded in 2008.

Every once in a while you read a book that has phrasing which is so beautiful and uniquely written that you stop and just reread that section again.  I found myself doing that often with The Light Between Oceans which is a wonderful debut novel by an Australian author, L.M. Stedman.  The book takes place right after World War I and is a psychological study of one couple's decision and the ripples that it creates in the world.

Tom Sherbourne, a decorated war hero, returns from World War I forever changed by the horrors of war, but his honor is still intact.  He is so respected and trusted by authorities that he is given the job of lighthouse keeper on a small island about a half day’s journey off of Australia’s western shore named Janus Rock. On one of his visits to the mainland he meets a brave and strong-willed young girl named Isabel and falls in love.  They marry and start their life together on the Island. 

Totally disgraced after her expulsion from school, Karigan trudged homeward through the countryside in Green Rider by Kristen Britain. It wasn't an easy walk, more of a cross-country hike, really, but her shame and rage kept her moving even as she spent an aching night sleeping in a meadow and washed down some hunks of cheese and bread with less than clean brook water.

Suddenly from out of the dark woods, there came an explosion of red and green.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  Isn’t that how an article about derivative works is supposed to begin?  We only ask because there are probably other articles out there on this topic that begin the same way.  Whether or not we admit it to ourselves, 100% true originality in the case of media like books, film, music and games is practically unheard of.  That’s not a bad thing; works that build on one another can be some of the richest experiences imaginable.  On the other hand, some people are just lazy and rip-off other, greater works.