Mercer County Library Blog

I’m sure many of you are fans of the Discovery Channel, History Channel and the various other science/history/exploration channels available through most cable television packages. For years, my family would be glued to the screen each Tuesday night watching Sig, Johnathan, Andy, Phil, and Keith battle the Bering Sea in search of crab on The Deadliest Catch . I have seen numerous episodes of many other reality staples – Swamp People , American Pickers , MythBusters , to name just a few. The latest show that has caught my attention is The Curse of Oak Island . What’s typical of this type of reality show is you never get as much information as you want, there’s a commercial every two minutes, and everything is rehashed to make up a one-hour time slot. How it differs for me, though, is that I’ve been there. In 1994, my family went on a road trip to Nova Scotia. My dad drove us up to Portland, Maine, where we boarded an overnight ferry to the island. My biggest memories from the ...

Well Behaved Indian Women by Saumya Dave (By a Somewhat Well Behaved Indian Woman) Once in a while there comes a book which has you in its grasp from the very first word. A story filled with that certain something that makes it impossible for you to put it down, and when you inevitably have to, your mind is filled with the characters. Their emotions are melded with your own, and you count the breaths you take until you can finally go back to the book and just READ uninterrupted. Well Behaved Indian Woman is one that speaks to my past and my present. It de-fines the concept and confines of being a woman from a South Asian back-ground. The difficulties, the suffocation, the inability to express your thoughts openly, the importance of family and traditions, the inexplicable love for your children, the sacrifices you make for everyone without giving a single thought to yourself - all have been so beautifully expressed in this story of three generations. First time author Saumya Dave ...

Outside the November air is cool and crisp, and the drifting leaves form a lush carpet on the ground. As the evenings start to lengthen, thoughts turn to the approaching holiday season just a few short weeks away. While this year has been exceptional in the challenges it has brought to us all, there are moments of happiness to be found in the closeness and warmth of reconnecting with family and friends during the holiday season. To help you with the traditional holiday gift exchange, here is a list of books covering a wide range of fiction and nonfiction titles that would make perfect gifts for just about everyone on your list! From all of us at the Mercer County Library System, wishing you a safe and happy holiday season! Nonfiction  Humans by Brandon Stanton Brandon Stanton wrote Humans of New York in 2010, where he blended photography with storytelling to unleash a deeply revealing artistic experience. Brandon's work mesmerized millions of readers all over the world.  In h...

November is National Aviation History Month. From pioneers of flight, like the Wright Brothers, to lesser-known figures such as Bessie Coleman (the first African American woman to be awarded an international pilot license), to those who currently take to the skies (and beyond), there are countless examples of those who made an impact on aviation history. Dating back to the Middle Ages with kite flights and tower jumps to the present’s supersonic flights, humans around the world have long attempted to do the “impossible.” Let’s look at what our collection has to offer about the brave men and women who dared to fly. Beginnings of Flight The Genesis of Flight: The Aeronautical History Collection of Colonel Richard Gimbel   by Colonel Richard Gimbel The Rocket Man: And Other Extraordinary Characters in the History of Flight   by David Darling Early Twentieth Century Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies   by Lawrence G...

Difficult times almost always strike unexpectedly. There is no grand announcement, no fanfare, no hoopla. They just arrive at your doorstep, and you are caught by surprise. Sometimes What!?! Why me?!? is all you can manage to say. Emotions take over and influence your response. For me, the unexpected death of my parents, within a space of two years, pulled the ground out from under me. Around that time, as luck would have had it, I was reading Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times . I had always admired Pema for her very practical and no-nonsense approach to life and its vagaries, but this work was special. It touched upon the very nature of suffering in a way that made it possible for me to understand loss and accept it without turning away from it. As more heart advice followed from friends and family over the years, taking some of the edge off of my grief, the one piece that really helped me move on comes from a fellow Buddhist practitioner at my Sa...

My sister works for Macy’s. Every year before Halloween she starts to ask me the same question. “What do you want for Christmas”. Really, at Halloween? I haven’t even decided what candy to give out to the Trick or Treaters. Christmas seems so far away. I realize that for the folks working in retail that early shopping is necessary and early shopping is popular with many people. Get it done and you enjoy the holiday season. So I start to think about what I really would like to open on Christmas morning. It’s not easy because since I am a little above retirement age (just a little) and I really don’t need anything. I like pretty scarves, and a new pair of hoop earrings always makes me happy, but if you really want me to have a joyous holiday buy me something for my kitchen. Some people like to have a “man cave”, or a “she shed”; me, I have my kitchen. It is the center of my home and where I am the happiest. It is where my family sits and eats together. Sometimes there are only thre...

Q: Are you accepting donations? A: No, not at this time. I have this conversation a few times with patrons every week. The other day, the person on the phone said “but what am I going to do with these books?” So glad you asked! There are lots of ways to reuse or upcycle books. Since we have access to many lightly damaged donations and library books that have to be discarded, I am always looking for craft projects that would use them and have discovered that there are many to make things from books. I would love to use some of these projects for my craft programs here at the library, but they mostly take more than the hour I have for the program.  But everyone needs a book made into a box, or a planter, or a clock, don’t they? So, if you have the books, we have the projects! Folded Book Art: 35 Beautiful Projects to Transform Your Books -- Create Cards, Display Scenes, Decorations, Gifts, and More Book Art: Creative Ideas to Transform Your Books - Decorations, Stationery, Display Sc...