THE BREWER TIMES

The Newsletter of the Brewer Public Library April - May 2002

Explore Nobel Prize Winning Literature

The British writer, born in Trinidad, V(idiadhar) S(urajprasad) Naipaul was born in 1932 in Chaguanas, close to the Port of Spain on Trinidad, in a family descended from immigrants from the north of India. His grandfather worked in a sugar cane plantation and his father was a journalist and writer. At the age of 18 Naipaul travelled to England where, after studying at University College at Oxford, he was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1953. From then on he continued to live in England (since the 70's in Wiltshire, close to Stonehenge) but he has also spent a great deal of time traveling in Asia, Africa, and America. Apart from a few years in the middle of the 1950's, when he was employed by the BBC as a free-lance journalist, he has devoted himself entirely to his writing.

Naipul's works consist mainly of novels and short stories, but also include some that are documentary. He is to a very high degree a cosmopolitan writer, a fact that he himself considers to stem from his lack of roots: he is unhappy about the cultural and spiritual poverty of Trinidad, he feels alienated from India, and in England he is incapable of relating to and identifying with the traditional values of what was once a colonial power.

V.S. Naipual won the Nobel Prize in literature in 2001. The information above is excerpted with permission from The Official Web Site of the The Nobel Foundation.

V.S. Naipul Titles Available at Brewer Public Library

Fiction :

A House for Mr. Biswas (1961) Guerillas (1975)

A Bend in the River (1979) The Enigma of Arrival (1987)

Non-fiction:

The Return of Eva Peron (1980) Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey (1981)

A Turn in the South (1989) India: A Million Mutinies Now (1990)

Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples (1998)

More fiction available through the SW Library System:

A Way in the World (1994) Half a Life (2001)

Search for library materials and place holds online at

www.brewerpubliclibrary.org

Friends Book Sale Set for May 3-4

The Friends of the Library will be having their annual colossal book sale on Friday and Saturday, May 3 and 4, on the upper level of the Brewer Public Library. On Friday, May 3, there will be a "Friends Only" pre-sale from 10 A.M. until Noon. The sale will be open to the public from Noon until 5 P.M. On Saturday, May 4, the book sale will be open from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. Funds raised at the book sale will be used for the purchase and installation of a ceiling fan over the circulation desk on the main floor of the library; an answering machine to record library hours (Brewer Public, Science Library and County History room) along with information about current and future library programs.

Book sale helpers are still needed, especially on Friday, and on Saturday from 1:00 - 2:00. A sign-up sheet is available at the library, or call Kathy Bastian, 647-4948. If you are a Friends member who indicated you are interested in helping at book sales, you will be receiving a call soon. The new book shelves should make setting up the sale and locating books on particular topics easier than in the past. We will be having some special "promotions" to encourage sales. Watch for details!

USED BOOKS WANTED!

The Friends of the Library is soliciting donations for their May 3-4 book sale. Please bring your used, but still useable books, video tapes, CD's, and record albums to the Brewer Public Library. Please do not include Reader's Digest Condensed Books, or any items that are wet, moldy, or mildewed; we cannot include them in our sale. If you are unable to bring your donation to the library please call Kathy Bastian, 647-4948, to arrange a pick-up.

Community Reading Program

Plans are being developed by Dean Cureton of UW-RC and others for a joint campus-community "reading program," and the Friends of the Library are eager to cooperate. An article has appeared in the Richland Observer, and the Friends will be letting you know how we plan to be involved once the program is organized. This program will be similar to the one sponsored by libraries in Madison, which chose the book Caucasia for city-wide reading and discussion. Watch for further details in the local media. What an exciting opportunity!

Millennium Spotlight on American Poetry

Poetry enthusiasts have a wonderful new resource available to them at the Brewer Public Library. Two volumes, AMERICAN POETRY: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, and AMERICAN POETRY: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, both edited by John Hollander, are available as part of the Millennium Project series of great American literature. Biographical sketches of each poet are included, as well as a chronology of poets and poetry, and extensive notes. From Freneau to Whitman, from Melville to Stickney, these two volumes offer a rich collection of our nation's best poetry.

Playgroup has Moved!

Pre-school playgroup has moved from the children's room of Brewer Public Library to the Symons Recreational Center. No membership is required to participate. Children and their parents or care givers are welcome to come play Tuesdays at 9:30 A.M.

Friends of the Library Plan National Library Week Promotion

National Library Week is April 14-20. What better time to promote books and reading? Plans are underway for a special promotion of the Millennium Collection, books of classic American literature. If plans proceed as expected, we are hoping to record some short excerpts which will be played on WRCO during the month of April. We are always grateful to Ron Fruit of WRCO for supporting the library.

Children's Story Hour for April

Ages 3-5 Fridays at 9:30 A.M. and 10:30 A.M.

April 5 - Stone Soup

April 12 - Polka Dots

April 19 - Earth Day

April 26 - Bubbles

*K - 3rd Grade Saturday Story Hour April 20, 10 A.M. Peter Rabbit's 100th Birthday

SUMMER STORY HOUR

Sign-up for Summer Program begins May 1. Summer Program begins June 11.

Tuesday: Ages 3 - 6, 10:00 - 11:00 A.M.

Entering Grades 1 and 2, 1:00 - 2:00 P.M.

Thursday: Entering Grades 3 and 4, 10:00 - 11:00 A.M.

Entering Grades 5, 6, and 7, Noon - 2:00 P.M. (Bring Lunch)

Graduating from Harry Potter

For readers interested in the fantasy genre, your editor humbly recommends the series "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman. Writing in the New York Times Book Review, Margo Jefferson says, "If you are going to preface your books with passages from Milton, Rilke and John Ashberry, then you had better write well. Pullman does."

Newsletter Submissions

Thank you, contributors. Please submit news, event information, book reviews and other library related material for the June-July newsletter by May 23. Submissions may be left at the children's desk or e-mailed to Greg Myszkowski at grmyszko@yahoo.com.