Thoughtful Ramblings

Happy International Women’s Day!

LaurenLeave a comment

It’s International Women’s Day! March 8th is a worldwide celebration of women and their achievements and a call for gender equality.  Take today to celebrate being YOU or any of the special ladies in your life!  Last night I started reading Gloria Steinem’s latest, My Life on the Road, which feels pretty appropriate for this week.  (My signed copy was a Christmas gift!)  I tried to jot down a quick list of some of my favorite women authors and I kept thinking of writers of children’s books.  It turns out I grew up reading some pretty great women, so I mixed those in with other classics.  What women have shaped your bookshelves over the years?

jane eyre

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

rebecca

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

handmaid's tale

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

little house

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

murder on the orient

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

julie wolves

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

harriet the spy

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

stepping cracks.jpg

Stepping on the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn

from the mixed up files

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L Konigsburg

~Lauren

From the Page to the Silver Screen

Lauren1 Comment

Did you watch the Oscars on Sunday night? The Academy Awards are hands-down my favorite awards show.  In the months leading up to the big night I get out and see as many of the nominated films as possible and obsessively cross them off my list before finally marking my own ballot in the days leading up to Oscar Sunday.  There were lots of great movies this year and it was nice to see some major categories spread around to different films.  The Revenant took home Best Director and Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio (15-year-old me was THRILLED about this ;)….), Mad Max: Fury Road nearly cleaned up all the technical categories, and Spotlight won for its screenplay and the ultimate prize—Best Picture.

There are always great movies that started out as great books—and this year was no exception!  I loved Room by Emma Donoghue and was not disappointed by the film adaptation.  Here are the books that inspired a number of this year’s Oscar nominees—check them out!

big short

The Big Short by Michael Lewis

brooklyn

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

price of salt

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (later republished under the title Carol)

the martian

The Martian by Andy Weir

room

Room by Emma Donoghue

revenant

The Revenant: a Novel of Revenge by Michael Punke

danish girl

The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff

100 year old man

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

~Lauren

Latest Additions

LaurenLeave a comment

Hate me all you want, but since this has never happened and likely will never happen again, I would just like to take a small piece of this public forum to announce: My Christmas Shopping Is Already Done. I can’t explain how this has been accomplished (aliens swapped out my brain with that of someone way more proactive about this stuff???), but there are presents–wrapped–under my Christmas tree.  If you’re like me, take some time to relax in these usually  crazy weeks leading up to the holidays and curl up with a book.  Go for it even if you’re not! That’s what typical-me would certainly do.

labob

A Gift from Bob by James Bowen

laknittoff

The Great Christmas Knit-Off by Alexandra Brown

laborden

The Borden Murders: LIzzie Borden and the Trial of the Century by Sarah Miller

laforget

The Great Forgetting by James Renner

lamount

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

-Lauren

Who doesn’t love a quiz?

staceyLeave a comment

It’s a beautiful day outside -so I’m hoping you’re not reading this right away… Instead, I’m hoping you’re out there gallivanting around in the sunshine -the quizzes will wait! I’ve only taken two of them -so far. I wouldn’t argue with my results on Which Bennett Sister are You? -no, I didn’t get the coveted Elizabeth. On the other hand, Who’s Your Book Sidekick gave me a sidekick I’ve never heard of… I guess I just added a book to my reading list?

Any kind of online quizzes can get addictive -and so here’s a list of 25 Fun Bookish Quizzes to keep the good times going! (In fact, I think I have to try that one where you guess the book by it’s closing line…right now!)

enjoy!
Stacey

Cheers to Library history!

LaurenLeave a comment

I attended the Ohio Museums Association’s annual conference on behalf of the Cowan Pottery Museum this past weekend.  This year’s conference took place right here in Cleveland and both Sunday’s museum tours and Monday’s conference sessions were wonderful.  I am excited to have returned chock full of some new ideas to bring to the Museum!

We capped our conference experience with a special treat—a private tour of the Great Lakes Brewing Company facilities in Ohio City.  Though they were much appreciated, my enthusiasm to go on the tour did not rest solely upon the promise of free samples of beer.  Additionally, I was excited to visit a place with an important connection to Rocky River Public Library’s history.  The building that now houses GLBC once housed the operations of the Schlather Brewing Company.  Leonard Schlather did business in Ohio City, but he relaxed at the lavish country estate he built in Rocky River (originally on Wooster Road).  It is because of the bequest of Leonard and Sophia Schlather that the library was able to complete its first major expansion in the 1956 (familiar to you as the “Schlather Room”).  Much of the fine art collection that graces the Library’s walls (given in 1954) is also part of the bequest that Sophia Schlather made in honor of her husband.

GLBC 3         GLBC 2

It was very neat to see that GLBC has some artifacts of Schlather Brewing in their building.  They even have a large piece of the building’s old parapet bearing the Schlather name that was unearthed during construction work years ago and put on display in their tap room.  What a great slice of local history to be enjoyed by museum professionals and beer drinkers alike!

GLBC 1

 

-Lauren

Road trip!

LaurenLeave a comment

I had a chance to take a mini-getaway to the Windy City this past weekend. Chicago is one of my favorite places to visit!  When I’m on vacation my top priorities usually center on what museums I am going to visit and what I am going to eat—and this trip was no exception.  I got a chance to see a really spectacular retrospective of early 20th Century American painter Archibald Motley at the Chicago Cultural Center and then tackled the Art Institute to visit some old favorites.  Did you know: the Art Institute of Chicago is home to one of Viktor Schreckengost’s iconic Jazz Bowls?  Indeed, the pride of our own Cowan Pottery Museum has a cousin in Chicago.  Of course I took a photo.  People probably wondered why I was so drawn to a funky blue punch bowl while surrounded by some of the most famous paintings in the history of American art, but I didn’t mind (I did the same thing last September at the Smithsonian!).jazz bowl

There was plenty of great food and drink (I ate TWO cheeseburgers at two separate restaurants) and lots of walking around the city which offered us some pretty perfect sunny weather.  I even stopped in the Chicago Public Library!  I’d never been inside what is a really gorgeous building (inside and out) right downtown.  The best part was the “Winter Garden” up on the very top floor with its spectacular atrium.  (Also tried to get a library card, totally denied…boo…)

chicago library

-Lauren

The Art World’s Great Mystery

LaurenLeave a comment

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the theft of 13 works of art totaling $500 million from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. On March 18, 1990, in a plot that one imagines could only happen in the movies, two thieves disguised as police officers were buzzed into the museum by a security guard in the early morning hours. They then bound and handcuffed both guards on duty before stealing a number of Rembrandts (including his only known seascape), a Vermeer, and five Degas drawings, among other objects. The Museum initially offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the works, but 25 years later the case remains open.

In 2013 the FBI announced that they believed the theft had been carried out by a New England-based crime organization and that some of the works had possibly been sold around Philadelphia in the early 2000s. Today all 13 works are still missing.

The theft has been the subject of much speculation and attention in popular culture, including Barbara A. Shapiro’s The Art Forger from 2012. Claire Roth is a struggling artist, reduced to creating copies of masterworks to make a living instead of forwarding her own career. She is approached by a gallery owner and agrees to forge a Degas drawing that was stolen during the famous heist in exchange for an exhibition of her own work. Claire quickly realizes the situation is more complicated—and more dangerous—than she could have ever imagined. Sounds like perfect reading for today!

artforger

 

-Lauren

Spring is coming!

LaurenLeave a comment

So it’s *only* mid-March. And I know it will *most likely* snow again in the coming weeks. But when I woke up the other morning the first thing I thought to myself was… “it’s coming.” Before I looked out the window, before I stepped outside, I could feel that feeling in the air—spring is coming. (This feeling may also be attributed to the loudly chirping birds that now accompany my alarm clock going off, but I refuse to be mad at these birds. I welcome the chirping birds. Keep it up, birds.)

Clevelanders are part of a special set of people that can look forward to spring like nobody’s business. In general, I am excited about getting OUTSIDE and not needing to add multiple layers to do so. In particular, I am looking forward to banishing my snow brush from the floor of my passenger seat to the trunk, riding my bike (preferably to an ice cream establishment), and ballet flats.

Here are a few books that put me in a “spring mood”:

secretgarden
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

anneofgreengables
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
I often reread books from my childhood if they were particularly special to me. The Secret Garden is already on-deck (= on my nightstand).

icapturethecastle
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

treegrowsinbrooklyn
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

roomwithaview
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

-Lauren

Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?

carolLeave a comment

 Who are you? No, really?

 Do you know your grandparent’s names? What about your great-great grandparent’s names? Do you know where they lived? If they were born in America or Overseas? Were they Italian, Irish, Middle Eastern?

 I love learning about my own ancestry, and based on the popularity of PBS shows like Genealogy Roadshow, African-American Lives, and Finding Your Roots, as well as the use of websites like Ancestry.com, it is obvious that many other people do too.

 Did you know that you can research your family roots with resources provided by your favorite library? Here at Rocky River Public Library, we subscribe to two genealogy research databases, Ancestry (for in-library use only) and Heritage Quest. Did I mention they are free to use with your library card? You can find access to those resources at: http://www.rrpl.org/research/research_subject.html#genealogy We also link to cool searchable websites like Ellis Island passenger lists (http://libertyellisfoundation.org/passenger), the Ohio Death Index, and others that can help you get to the bottom of just how and when your people got here, their occupations, and who they lived with. Just think, you might just find a long-lost cousin or two.

I found census records for my family from 1920, enlistment cards from my Grandfather’s time in the Army, death records for family members I didn’t know existed, and much, much more! One of my favorite discoveries is a picture of the ship my grandparents emigrated upon, the Oropesa:

oropesaAre you curious about your origins? Why not try searching your family tree? What might you discover?

I hope you enjoy finding out!

~Carol

It’s Groundhog Day (Again)!

carolLeave a comment

Today is Groundhog Day! “Why celebrate?” you ask. Yes, I agree that it’s a day of tradition that usually just brings us bad news. Indeed, according to news reports today, Punxsutawney Phil has already seen his shadow. If you believe his forecasting skills, we now we have six more weeks of winter to look forward to. Don’t be too sad–just think of all the great reading and movie watching you can do stuck inside all those extra days.

In fact, I’m sure I’ll be able to catch one of my all-time favorite movies on TV. Groundhog Day will no doubt be on at least one channel this evening. I love this movie, and not just because it stars the wonderful, Bill Murray. I love Groundhog Day, because it is the ultimate ‘do-over’ film. I love nothing better than a story where the character gets a chance to relive their past to get it right.

Another great ‘do-over’ movie is Sliding Doors. Gwyneth Paltrow stars as a London woman whose future hinges on whether or not she catches a train. Her character’s two realities run parallel in this film about fate and choices, but it’s hard not to root for her ‘better’ half to get it right in the end.

For great ‘do-over’ reading, pick up Rainbow Rowell’s newest novel, Landline. This novel is about a marriage on the rocks. Georgie and Neal are separated at Christmas, and the only way Georgie can talk to her husband is on an old landline phone in her childhood bedroom. In there, the Neal who answers her calls is Neal from her past college days, pre-marriage. Can Georgie get her husband to fall for her all over again?

Sure, this is pure escape, reading and viewing fun! But, think about it! What would you do if you had a chance to do something over again?    ~Carol