Beverly Public Library

Reviewed by Eliza, Lucien and Rory of the Snack and Chat Book Discussion Group

We enjoyed this book immensely because  there was a lot of action. It was great that Greg and his team built schools for the poor children in Pakistan and Afghanistan who were attending school outside in the bitter cold.  This book tried to educate people in the United States that not all Muslims are evil or mean-spirited. Greg Mortenson was a very brave person since he was kidnapped once for 8 days and yet he still returned to Pakistan another time to continue aiding the people who needed his help.

Tags: Afghanistan, biography, children, Pakistan, schools

Join Beverly library staff and Barb Fecteau, the Beverly High School librarian, and be ready to get creative as we make and decorate simple books on Friday, March 12 from 3-4:30 PM. All of the required materials for this craft will be provided. Teens aged 10-18 are welcome.

“Harriet Zabrosky believed in love at first sight – until it happened to her. He became a monk. She moved back to America.” Sound intriguing? Then please join us on Thursday, March 11 for a visit by Massachusetts native Elizabeth Dembrowsky, who will present a lively reading from her new first novel, My Monk. A young idealist American arrives in England for graduate school and finds herself soon involved in an unlikely friendship with a very religious and temperamental Romanian poet. Harriet – a liberal atheist – soon draws closer and closer to her fellow graduate student, attracted to him because of their differences. Weaving in back story and taking the character forward in time to life in New York City, the novel is unique in format and style. My Monk is a delightful story of love and growth. It reminds us to be open to the wild ride that love can take us on, but to still remember we don’t control where it will leave us.

Ms. Dembrowsky’s visit will also include an appearance by Beverly author Julia Newman, who will read a selection from her collection of short stories, Blood in the Water. The program starts at 7:30 PM in the Sohier Room of the main library, 32 Essex Street, and is free and open to the public. For information please call the library at 978-921-6062 or email bev@noblenet.org.

This spring, John Tischio will be presenting a series of 10 classes on opera at the Beverly Public Library. He has been teaching this course, called “Opera, The First Broadway” for almost 20 years and has lectured at many libraries and community colleges in the area including Lexington, Carlisle, Newton, NSCC, and Middlesex CC. Each week he will present a different opera to the class and discuss the literary work on which the opera is based, the composer of the opera and finally the opera it self. This part of the presentation is accompanied by an excerpted video presentation of the work. The first class is Wednesday, March 17 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. and the rest will be on March 24 and 31, April 7, 14, 21, 28 and May 5, 12, 19. Registration is required and limited to 15 people. To register, please contact John Tischio directly at 978-535-1796 or verismo@comcast.net.

Do you have a favorite author – or three, or five? Would you like never to miss one of their new novels? The Beverly Public Library soon will start an automatic reserve program, where you can request to have new novels by today’s hottest authors put on hold for you as soon as they come out. In order to do this, we need to know who YOUR favorite authors are! The next time you are in the library, pick up a ballot and vote for up to ten authors you think should be among the favored few. Votes will be tallied and the top 100 authors will be eligible for the program.

Actual sign-ups for the program will start after we finalize the list for “Beverly’s HOT 100.” When the program starts, you will be able to sign up for whichever authors you like that are on the list – one, two, a dozen or more. When a new book by an author you’ve signed up for is released, we will automatically put a reserve on the book for you. If you decide you don’t want that particular book or don’t want it on reserve for you at that time, you can cancel the reserve yourself or ask the library to do it. But otherwise you will never ‘miss the boat’ on getting your name in for a new title from your favorite authors again!