What Do You Geek?

Geek the Library is a national campaign sponsored in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Geek the Library campaign grabs people’s attention and serves as a reminder about the immense value public libraries have for individuals and for communities. The awareness campaign introduces the word ‘geek’ as a verb and illustrates the fact that everyone is passionate about something—everyone ‘geeks’ something—and that the public library supports it all.

The Rice Lake Public Library is excited to be a part of this campaign.

geek ~ verb.
1. to love, to celebrate, to have an intense passion for.
2. to express interest in.
3. to possess a large amount of information in.
4. to promote.

PageTurners Read “The Sandalwood Tree”

The Sandalwood Tree
Elle Newmark

In 1947, an American anthropologist named Martin Mitchell wins a Fulbright Fellowship to study in India. He travels there with his wife, Evie, and his son, determined to start a new chapter in their lives. Upon the family’s arrival, though, they are forced to stay in a small village due to violence surrounding Britain’s imminent departure from India. It is there, hidden behind a brick wall in their colonial bungalow, that Evie discovers a packet of old letters that tell a strange and compelling story of love and war involving two young Englishwomen who lived in the very same house in 1857. Drawn to their story, Evie embarks on a mission to uncover what the letters didn’t explain.

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Seven people attended the book discussion about The Sandalwood Tree on Thursday, September 8 at 6 pm. We had a special treat of masala chai tea and sugar cookies. Most readers enjoyed the story and insight into another culture, but were disappointed by the coincidental deus ex machina at the end of the novel. The average rating given to this book was 3.83; the highest score was a 4.5 and the lowest was 3.

Click on the book graphic below to see a full recap of book club members’ opinions.

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The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark is available at the Rice Lake Public Library. There are over ten copies of this book in the MORE System. Please visit the card catalog website or call us at 234-4861 to reserve a copy today.

The PageTurners Book Club is sponsored by the Friends of the Rice Lake Public Library. It usually meets on the first Thursday of each month at 6 pm at the Rice Lake Public Library. Discussion lasts an hour; everyone is welcome.

The Conspirator (2010) (via What to Watch.)

Rated PG-13 Based on the true story of Mary Surratt the mother of a conspirator to the assassination of President Lincoln. It follows her trial though the eyes of her lawyer, Frederick Aiken. I was a little disappointed with the film. As the film opens we get a little background to the lawyer and the assassination, none of that was explored and felt rushed through. Then we hit the trial which was great, loved the pace. Then we get to the story be … Read More

via What to Watch. The content and opinions expressed in this review do not necessarily reflect the views of nor are they endorsed by the Rice Lake Public Library.

Cliff Robertson (1923-2011)

Cliff Robertson  passed away on September 10, 2011 from natural causes. He  won the academy award for his performance in  Charly. In the 70s he was blacklisted in Hollywood for outing a forgery scandal involving a major production company. His latest film was Spider-man.

Charly (1968) Rated PG

A mentally retarded man becomes a genius after experimental brain surgery, developing a romance with his former special-education teacher before lapsing back into retardation.

Complete Gidget Collection (2004) Rated NR

The collection features Gidget and steady beau, Moondoogie, and their fun-in-the-sun adventures.

Spider-Man (2002) Rated PG-13

After being bitten by a radioactive spider on a school field trip, Peter Parker finds himself gaining spider-like qualities. Adopting the name Spider-Man, Peter first uses his new skills to make money, but when the Green Goblin, another altered super-human, kills Peter’s uncle, he swears to use his “spider-skills” to fight evil. Along the way he has to juggle a new job as a local reporter, and a budding romance with a beautiful former-classmate, MJ.

Three Days of the Condor (1999) Rated R

A CIA agent who is on the run from a mass slaughter in his research office suddenly finds himself the target of both his employers and the unknown killers of his associates.

Wild Hearts Can’t be Broken (1991) Rated G

True story of a young girl who runs away to join the circus and becomes a horse diver.

POW/MIA Recognition Day September 16th

Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Rated PG

When British P.O.W.s build a vital railway bridge in enemy-occupied Burma, Allied commandos are assigned to destroy it.

Great Escape (1963) Rated NR

A high-security German prisoner-of-war camp in 1942 holds only known troublemakers and risk-takers, all of whom are determined to pull off the war’s most daring escape.

In Enemy Hands (2004) Rated R

The U.S.S. Swordfish U-boat is taken prisoner in a battle with a German sub. Meningitis strikes half the German crew. Avoiding the contagion and POW protocol, crew members and prisoners must work together to survive.

Prisoners of the Sun (1991) Rated R

In the aftermath of World War II, a mass grave of brutally executed Australian POWs is discovered. A tough military lawyer and his team are dispatched to prosecute the Japanese guards. To win his fight for justice, the lawyer must deal with an American officer protecting his national interests and a Japanese commander who has sworn his troops to a blood oath of silence.

Stalag 17 (1953) Rated NR

A group of American G.I.s in a POW camp suspect a spy is among them.

Three Wishes (1995) Rated PG

A mother and her two young sons try to survive the best they can since her husband, the boys’ father, is presumed to have died in the Korean War. One day they meet an injured stranger and his dog who change their lives.

Food 4 Fines

September 18 – 24

Do you have fines that you want to pay off, but it seems impossible? The Rice Lake Public Library is offering a one week opportunity for library users to pay off their fines by bringing in a non-perishable food item. All donations will go to a local food pantry to help our neighbors in need.

1 Non perishable Item = $1
Nonperishable items must be sealed and unexpired.
Nonperishable food can not be redeemed for money.
Nonperishable food can not be used as a credit towards future fines.
It can not be used to pay for lost or damaged material.
It can not be used at any other library.

September 11th Films

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) Rated R

Through actual footage, interviews, and declassified documents, Michael Moore presents an examination of the role played by money and oil in the wake of the tragic events of 9/11.

The Guys (2002) Rated PG

Based on a true story of a New York City journalist and a fire captain who form an unexpeced bond as they pay tribute to the heroes lost in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Unable to write the eulogies himself, he asks for help from a journalist who can offer the assistance that he needs.

102 Minutes That Changed America (2008) Rated NR

A stunning chronological record of the events of September 11, 2001, presenting a real time, moment-by-moment account of the World Trade Center collapse as seen by New Yorkers. Includes bonus documentary I-Witness to 9/11..

Reign Over Me (2007) Rated R

Alan Johnson runs into his old college roommate, Charlie Fineman, on the streets of New York City. He is surprised to find that Charlie does not remember him at all. Alan later learns that Charlie is suffering with grief over the loss of his family on 9/11. Flooded with grief, Charlie quits his job and isolates himself from everyone around him. Alan attempts to help Charlie get over his grief by rekindling their friendship. As Alan spends a lot of time with Charlie, it puts a strain on his relationship with his wife and kids.

United 93 (2006) Rated R

Tells the story of the heroic passengers and crew members who prevented the terrorists from carrying out their plans for the fourth hijacked plane on September 11, 2001. As on-ground military and civilian teams scrambled to make sense of the unfolding events, forty people who sat down as strangers found the courage to stand up as one.

World Trade Center (2006) Rated PG-13

The true story of Port Authority policemen John McLoughlin and William J. Jimeno, who volunteered for rescue duty and became trapped in the rubble of the Towers on September 11, 2001. The men became two of the last survivors extracted from Ground Zero. It is a story of the true heroes and of that fateful time in United States history, when buildings would fall and heroes would rise, literally from the ashes to inspire the entire human race.

New Books of September

Come find out what’s new this month!

Good Graces
By Lesley Kagen
Sequel to Whistlin’ in the Dark
Eleven-year-old Sally, still traumatized by the sudden death of her father and her own narrow escape from a murderer and molester, no longer has confidence in her own judgment, but when she suspects her sister Troo of being involved in a series of crimes in their Milwaukee neighborhood, she knows she must somehow find a way to honor the deathbed promise she made to her dad to keep Troo safe.

The Art of Fielding
By Chad Harbach
At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended. Henry’s fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, Owen Dunne, Henry’s gay roommate and teammate, Mike Schwartz, and Pella Affenlight, Guert’s daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths.

The Grief of Others
By Leah Hager Cohen
The Ryries have suffered a loss: the death of a baby just fifty-seven hours after his birth. Without words to express their grief, the parents, John and Ricky, try to return to their previous lives. Yet in the aftermath of the baby’s death, long-suppressed uncertainties about their relationship come roiling to the surface. But as the four family members scatter into private, isolating grief, an unexpected visitor arrives, and they all find themselves growing more alert to the sadness and burdens of others-to the grief that is part of every human life but that also carries within it the power to draw us together.

There But for The
By Ali Smith
At a dinner party in the posh London suburb of Greenwich, Miles Garth suddenly leaves the table midway through the meal, locks himself in an upstairs room, and refuses to leave. An eclectic group of neighbors and friends slowly gathers around the house, and Miles’s story is told from the points of view of four of them: Anna, a woman in her forties; Mark, a man in his sixties; May, a woman in her eighties; and a ten-year-old named Brooke. The thing is, none of these people knows Miles more than slightly. How much is it possible for us to know about a stranger? And what are the consequences of even the most casual, fleeting moments we share every day with one another? 

The Emperor of Lies
By Steve Sem-Sandberg
A fictionalized account of the second-largest Jewish ghetto established by the Nazis in the Polish city of Lodz in 1940, chronicling the daily life of its inhabitants under the authoritarian rule of Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, the ambitious sixty-three-year-old Jewish businessman who sought to transform the ghetto into a productive industrial complex. Sem-Sandberg risks courting controversy by revisiting this complicity with evil, as he does by allowing the possibility that Rumkowski may have honestly believed that he was saving his fellow Jews by his acts–a possibility that historians have lately been wrestling with.

Labor Day Films 2011

Clerks (1994) Rated R

A deadpan comedy about a day in the life of two nowhere-bound convenience and video store clerks and the two eccentric drug dealers who constantly loiter outside the stores.

Erin Brockovich (1999) Rated R

Erin Brockovich is a feisty young mother who convinces attorney Ed Masry to hire her and promptly stumbles upon a momumental law case against a giant corporation. Erin’s determined to take on this powerful adversary even though no law firm has dared to do it before. The two begin an incredible and sometimes hilarious fight that will bring a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees. Based on a true story.

North Country (2005) Rated R

Josey Aimes needs a job and goes to work at a Minnesota steel mine after splitting with her violent husband. But the job proves to be almost as harrowing as her marriage. The male miners are resentful of women taking their jobs, so the men verbally abuse and play humiliating pranks on the female miners. After being physically assaulted by a coworker, Josey tries to fight against the harassment, but none of the other women will join her case for fear that things will only get worse. A fictionalized account of the first class action sexual harassment case in the U.S.

Office Space (1999) Rated R

Unable to endure another mind-numbing day at Initech Corporation, cubicle slave Peter Gibbons gets fired up–and decides to get fired. Armed with a leisurely new attitude and a sexy new girlfriend, he soon masters the art of neglecting his job, which quickly propels him into the ranks of upper management.

Tommy Boy (1995) Rated PG-13

Party animal Tommy Callahan is definitely a few cans short of a six-pack. But after seven years, Tommy’s finally earned his diploma–and a cushy job at Callahan Auto Parts. Returning home, Tommy gets some more great news: his dad is marrying a real “10,” and Tommy will get the stepbrother he always wanted. But when his father dies, the business starts tanking–and his stepmother starts scheming. Now Tommy’s got to hit the road with his dad’s right-hand man, a smug numbers-cruncher. And what these two don’t know about salesmanship could fill a book.